The Child of War and his Chosen
by Lady Augustin
Summary: Set after "Amphipolis Under Siege", Ares is actually the father to Eve he doesn't remember his night with Xena. Xena is starting to reconsider her actions, since all the Olympians are targeting her supposedly fatherless child.
1. After The Siege

**The Child of War and his Chosen One**

**Story Summary:** In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Violence:** Yes, this is Xena and Ares we are talking about lol.

**Subtext:** Nope, this story is strictly Xena/Ares.

**Rating: **Rated T for now but rating will increase in later chapters...

**Special Thanks To Xentrya: **Xentrya has not only helped me to try and write my very first story, my lovely muse and editor has helped me with spelling, grammar, dialogue, and so much much more. I want to personal say thank you Xentrya for all your help, without you this story wouldn't have been possible.

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After the Siege of Amphipolis was over, Xena was deep in thought with Eve in her arms fast asleep. She kept remembering the look of hurt and pain on Ares' face after she had told him "I felt nothing", she knew it had been a lie. Another lie that was added along to that endless chain of the other multiply lies she had told those days. She wasn't only lying to Ares she was lying to her best friend, to her family, pretty much to everyone she knew, and the worst part of it all was that she was lying to herself.

Xena thought back to her warlord days when she and Ares were together, she was his Princess his one and only Chosen warrior and he was her Patron God. In those days, Xena would have never kept secrets from him, she could tell him anything that crossed her mind, starting with her fears, and ending with her darkest secrets. He was always there when she needed a shoulder to lean on, or to talk when she just needed a friend.

Till that very day, she could distinctly remember countless lonely nights during which he just held her close to his chest, whispering sweet nothings against her ear, making her smile widely….. everything was easier back then; no lies nor secrets.

That was before she betrayed him of course, and left with Hercules to pursue the noble concepts that Greater Good was tempting her with….

As for Ares, as much as she hated to admit it, there was no way around when it came to him: they both played different parts in their strained relationship, if you could even call it that, and he was as stubborn as a mule. Nothing seamed to click when it came to them and at the same time they were like two mirrors facing each other…Quite strange, one might think, but when it came to the War God and his beloved protégée, nothing was too much.

If one should give a proper definition for a love/hate relationship, they were the perfect examples to illustrate it, cause still, no matter what, Ares always came when she called for him.

That very moment though, she kinda doubted that the cocky God would still be at her beck and call anytime, any place , what she had done to him during the unexpected siege of Amphipolis being unforgivable.

Xena sighed_: "Why can't I just stop thinking of him already? He is bad for me, I can't love him. We could never be together…and yet….. I can't forget him."_

The next minute, the pensive Warrior Princess looked down at Eve and she instantly remembered why in Tartarus she couldn't forget him in the first place.

Eve was the spitting image of Ares: she had his curly black hair, his high check bones and face structure, only her eyes were a steely blue just like her mothers'. Every time she looked at Eve, the vivid image of the little girl's father invaded her mind.

As serious as she had wanted to be about it, Xena couldn't help chuckling softly:

"_The fates really got a sick twist of humor, I'm trying to forget but they did a perfectly good job by giving me a special reminder."_

And to top it all, Eve was also starting to develop her demi-god powers. Consequently, the Warrior Princess had to constantly watch Eve to make sure that Gabrielle or anyone else would not notice objects floating magically into the air.

Eve also had the ability to heal within seconds. Lucky, nobody had noticed that particular little detail except for her.

Gabrielle would constantly make comments about Eve looking like Ares though, the previous day the petite bard made another comment, making the Warrior Princess' jaw drop straight to the floor.

"Xena, you can say that Ares isn't Eve's father as long as you want to, but it's as sure as hell that she looks more like him everyday."

Pausing for a second, she then continued, a broad grin on her face:

"Strike that Xena, she looks a lot like a mini Ares indeed. I'm actually surprised he hasn't claimed to be the father." Gabrielle bursted out into laughter, and all Xena could do was roll here eyes in exasperation, and sigh deeply before replying apparently detached.

"Gabrielle you are just seeing things that aren't there, there is no way I would sleep with that Bastard. Besides, Ares has never seen my daughter and I'm not planning to allow him to even be in the presence of my child either. Now… can you please go get us some fire wood, so we can make camp?"

Luckily Gabrielle didn't question her friend's orders and went off to gather wood like she was asked to.

Thinking of Ares again, her eyes half closed while rocking the baby to sleep, silent in thought, she said to herself on the lowest of tones:

" _Ares tried to use his only son in and attempt to kill Hercules, what in the world would ever prevent him from using my little Evie against me and Gabrielle?"_

Plus, if Ares ever knew the truth about how Eve was really conceived, he would hate her from the very depths of that immortal soul of his. At least, that's what she thought.

It was no secret nor surprise that the Bastard might very likely feel tempted to try and take her daughter away from her and train her to become the most deadliest warrior the Universe had ever known.

Looking down at a peacefully sleeping Eve she thought sadly, contemplating the countless possibilities laying ahead of her sweet angel, none of them bright and shiny.

"_With my dark past, and your father's identity, I can't risk you being corrupted or being taken away from me. I have already lost one child I will die before I lose you too._

Only one person -well… Goddess in fact- new the truth parentage of Eve, and that one person was Aphrodite, the ever so kind and ditsy Love Goddess., the one to whom Xena had turned to when she found out that she was with child.

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Reviews are welcome and are appreciated, my ever so sweet muse Xentrya is working on the next chapters. She has her own projects to work on but she is being so kind to take out of her own writing time to help me.


	2. Flashback Within Flashbacks

**Story Summary:**In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

**Shout Outs: **To Strawberry14, Writer Writing, FallenAngelXWP, AresLover, and Guest reviewers thank you for your reviews :).

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Only one person -well… Goddess in fact- new the truth parentage of Eve, and that one person was Aphrodite, the ever so kind and ditsy Love Goddess., the one to whom Xena had turned to when she found out that she was with child.

**Flashback Scene**

After constant nagging from Gabrielle who had in terrible amazement noticed her friend's delicate shape- and this was Xena who we're talking about, the Warrior Princess who never got sick , Xena went to see a Healer, the same Healer who informed her that she was with child and still managed to live after having had to deliver such "bad news".

It's safe to say that for the Warrior, the world itself stopped revolving for a few second she couldn't possibly be pregnant. Not by her worse enemy and x-lover.

In a trance like state, memories washed over Xena's foggy mind, images of her and Ares fated night, when Eve was conceived.

**Flashback In A Flashback**

She was in the temple bathing, she had just finished talking to Joxer about how to tell Gabrielle he loved her. After he had left, as if belonging to another place and time, like some sort of déjà vu feeling, an old snatch of some sort of dialogue came to her mind and she didn't even realize she had said it aloud:

"Of course, you could just kiss the girl".

No sooner had she said that, and, right out of nowhere, the handsome man who saved her from Kal appeared.

"Interesting offer." He stated eying her tempted by the mere sight of her.

She blushed. He was indeed of a rare beauty. One of a kind.

"I know you. You're the one who freed me from Kal." She continued mesmerized by his powerful presence.

"Yes, I am." was the reply that she got in return.

Everything about him was so seductive… She couldn't even recall how exactly it happened, but Ares was giving her a massage in the tub while they had a simple conversation. The last important thing she could actually remember about it was her turning to Ares and asking him if he happened to know the reason why she was brought back that way.

Ares' reply still echoed in the back of her mind:

"Oh yeah. It's all about you and me, Xena - not Kal, not even Zeus. Just the two of us bringing peace and order to the world through force - something you and I were destined to do ... together."

And that was it. All she needed to know, all she needed to remember, to feel, was comprised into those little three words: "you ", " me", and" together". The magic formula that did the trick, making her want to melt in his arms right then and there.

The next moment, she was reaching out for him, slowly bringing her mouth to his and when their lips touch it was true alchemy. Nothing seemed to matter anymore , except for the sensation of his lips and hands upon her.

The memories kept pouring and pouring…. Ares had taken her in his arms while her soul was still pure and her memories absent. She remembered how they magically appeared in this vast and beautiful bedroom, literally fit for a God. She was definitely not confused about the part when he laid her on the bed and worshiped her body, treating her like she was the most important thing on the face of the earth, covering her with kisses from head to toe., whispering everything she had longed to hear him say –even unconsciously- in her ear, and professing his undying love to her.

Even in the absence of her memories , she knew she loved him, she could feel her heart pounding like crazy for him alone, almost convinced that what they shared could only be described as true love.

And still, at the same time, there was something preventing her to shake the strange feeling that somehow she was being used , although with her every cell, she was adamantly trying to deny the ill omen that the God was using her for his own gain.

And now, looking back to the logic of things, she couldn't help thinking that It wasn't love he felt for her, she was nothing to him. Just a toy to be played with. He was a God after all, and what could an Olympian want with a mere mortal woman?

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_**Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :)**_


	3. Original Flashback, In Comes Ares

**Story Summary: **In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

**Shout Outs: **To Strawberry14, Writer Writing, AresLover, and Guest thank you for your reviews :).

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And now, looking back to the logic of things, she couldn't help thinking that It wasn't love he felt for her, she was nothing to him. Just a toy to be played with. He was a God after all, and what could an Olympian want with a mere mortal woman?

**End of Flashback In A Flashback, Back To Original Flashback**

Suddenly, Xena heard someone calling her name, breaking her reverie.

"Xena, Xena look at me are you okay?"

It was Gabrielle.

As if having taken a cold shower, the Warrior Princess woke from her trance like state, shaking her head in utter disbelief and almost choked on the word coming out of her mouth.

"Pregnant, I can't be pregnant it's impossible! I can't do this."

With that, and with a very determinate " Do not follow me, I need some time to think" she simply fled, leaving an astonished bard behind, to wonder if she had heard her correctly.

Minutes later, Xena was running fast through the woods as if a hound out of hell was on her tail, probably breaking one of the most important rules of a Warrior's code: running doesn't help one solve anything, but on the contrary,facing problems always does.

After running and leaping over trees for a good 25 minutes she just stopped, she didn't have the energy to run no more, being pretty much exhausted when she sank to her knees onto the cold hard forest floor.

Her whole body hurt, she was crying on the inside but she didn't want to show it on the outside. She couldn't. That would have meant plain weakness and she was definitely not allowed to show.

Suddenly, while fighting desperately to regain her breath, just like a throbbing head ache, she felt him.

… The reason for all her endless pain and misery….. he refused to step out of his invisibility shield though…..

"Go away you Bastard, Haven't you already caused me enough pain for a lifetime?."she yelled at him from the top of her lungs, annoyed by his divine presence anywhere near her.

Ares didn't reply in the process though, and his dismissive attitude only managed to further angering her, so, as to make him hurt the same way she did, she just sharply looked in the direction she knew he was standing, and screamed as loud as she could, imagining how her words would burn his heart to a crisp:

"I hate you! I wish I never met you! If I could, I would rip out your heart and throw it to the wolves!"

And voila! Out of thin air and in a sparkle of blue light, the mighty War God appeared before her, looking as opted as he could, and, walking straight towards her.

She instantly put her head down since the last thing she wanted was to look him in the eyes, afraid that through some Zeus knows what kind of godly technique, he might have figured out what was really wrong with her.

Slowly, very slowly, taking his time to contemplate the troubled expression of her face, Ares closed in the distance between them and knelled in front of her.

Even though Xena wouldn't look at him, he still tried to talk to her, sensing the growing tension and frustration her aura was impregnated with.

"Will you at least look at me, please?...This isn't you…talk to me, sweet…"

He stopped for a second though when he realized she wasn't going to answer him soon, so he just decided to continue, his heart breaking to pieces when seeing his raven haired Princess looking so shattered and sad..

"Xe, Princess, you know you can tell me anything, I know you are hurting, ok? I can feel it through our bond. Just tell me what's wrong, will you? Maybe we can fix it together…. you are still my Chosen and my Princess even if we are on different sides….

Almost in shock, Xena didn't know what to say . While a part of her wanted to jump into his arms and tell him the whole truth, hoping that he could somehow make it all better, the Warrior in her couldn't possibly forget that in front of her stood Ares God of War himself, and in her long experience with him across the years she was well aware that he was nothing but trouble.

As a conclusion, she had to make him angry enough so that he would leave her alone, without checking up on her any more. She needed time….

Hoping to say the words to his face, she began looking him in the eyes, but adverted her gaze a moment later, unable to bear seeing his hurt expression as she literall broke his heart. She just turned her back on him instead.

"Ares I hate you…..Is that so difficult to understand? Honestly, if I wanted a dumb sorry excuse for a War God to follow me around, I'd buy a damn mutt. Are you really that blind that you can't see that the mere sight of you makes me sick to my stomach? I actually thought you could read me that much. And just for the record, and you should definitely get this through your thick skull already: I would never return to you, do you understand me? You make my skin crawl- and not in a good way either….I wish you would just leave me alone, and stay out of my life forever. And for Chronos's sake, stop following me around like some pathetic love struck teenager, will you? It's creepy and cheezy!"

As she finally turned back around and looked into his eyes though, what she saw made tears fill her blue moons despite having intended to block any emotion what so ever regarding their relationship, convincing herself that it was for the best.

She had hurt him though, his face was full of anguish, hurt, and pain… And as she was on the verge of tears, ready to take back those harsh words she had just said , something inside her kept pushing for her to utter the following words too:

"Ares, let's face it: you're no good for me and I'm no good for you, I want to be happy but I can't be happy knowing I'm still tied to you…" she continued, barely holding back the tears threatening to stream down her face.

"I don't want to do this any more, since the only thing we do these days is to cause each other misery, Please Ares, just… let me go."

Watching her slightly injected eyes, Ares' face softened a bit. He knew something was really bothering his Princess. Yes, what she said hurt him deeply, but he also knew more than he knew himself, and it was as plain as daylight that she was talking out of anger.

Controlling his initial intent to slap her and send her straight to Tartarus, he decided instead to use a different approach, curious to find out what was her previous outburst all about. He needed some answers and he was adamant to receive them.

Thus, tenderly cupping her face in his hands, he whipped away the tears now bathing her cheeks, and after seconds of thinking, what he said genuinely surprised both of them:

" If what you need is time to sort out whatever it is that's bothering you, I will give you time. I will stay away as long as you need, ok? I know I have hurt you in the past as I know I have just hurt you just recently but I swear it on the river Styx Xe I will always care about you. So don't ask me to get out of your life for good cause I won't, we both know that. But I will grant you your space…. If you need me Princess, call me and I will be there."

With that, he gently laid a kiss upon Xena's forehead, and before she could even say anything, the God vanished.

Xena wanted to cry out to him, but she couldn't.

"_I have to do everything it takes to protect this little angle inside me, even if that means keeping him/her away from their father.I can do it…I have to….." _

With that in mind, she took a deep breath and called on the one person that could help her with her predicament: the Goddess of Love.

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_**Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :)**_


	4. Along Came A Goddess

**Story Summary:** In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:**No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

**Shout Outs: **To Strawberry14, Writer Writing, Xentrya, and AresLover thank you for your reviews :).

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"_I have to do everything it takes to protect this little angle inside me, even if that means keeping him/her away from their father.I can do it…I have to….." _

With that in mind, she took a deep breath and called on the one person that could help her with her predicament: the Goddess of Love.

"Aphrodite! **Aphrodite**, please I need to talk to you it's important"

No sooner had the phrase left her mouth, that the ditzy Aphrodite appeared in a flash of pink glitter. Taking one long look at the Warrior Princess she knew that something must have been dreadfully wrong for her to say **please **and call upon her.

"Like what's wrong Warrior Babe, is Gabby alright?" she inquired, obviously concerned about whatever was going on.

.Filling her lungs with fresh air again, Xena started talking:

"Yeah Dite, Gabrielle is fine . There's something else…...I….I need to talk to someone….to you…..But nobody can find out about it Dite. I'm serious! Especially Ares. Do you understand? It's important!"

Putting on a sad face, Dite simply replied:

"Why don't we go back to my temple so that nobody can disturb us or listen in on our conversation?"

With that, she transported them back to one of her temples, where Xena told her the long, sensual story of her pregnancy….and it seamed to be exactly Aphrodite's type of fairytale, since at the end of her narration, the Love Goddess looked as excited and smiling as Xena haven't seen her in years.

Why are you all blue Xe? It's a good thing, you know! You and Ar are having a baby. I know ya'll have your rocky patches but this could be in fact the blessing you needed to fix your relationship." She said, eying her carefully.

A sad look crossed Xena's face before she finally answered, anticipating fairly good the Goddess's reaction:

" Dite…. I know you are not going to agree with what I have to say, but I could really use your help. Ares cannot know that I am caring his child."

In a blink, Aphrodite face fell flat.

"Xe, you can't do this to him! He has a right to know, to be a part of his child's life. He will be a great father, you know that, and he loves you to death. If necessary, he would give his life for that child!"

Before she could finish though, Xena interrupted her abruptly, and added coldly:

"Aphrodite, you of all people know of all the pain and suffering Ares has put me through. So read my lips here, will ya? He does not love me**.** All I'm asking you to do is erase Ares memory of the night we shared so it never happened, please Dite I need your help I don't want my child to growing up around a father he couldn't teach him anything except blood , death and the Underworld. I want him or her to have a normal life, instead of Ares trying to make them take over the world for his own damn glory. And don't try to deny it, cause you know I'm right. Eventually , this will happen"

Xena was desperate… the next thing she knew she was in tears in front of two gods in a row.

"Aphrodite please. I'm begging you, please do this for me,. I've already missed all the opportunities I could have had with Solan, I don't want to loose this too. I promise if you ever need anything all you have to do is ask. I'll never ask you for anything again, but please Dite please help me this one time."

Looking at Xena broken like that , Aphrodite soon found out that she didn't have that many options could only say

"Fine… if it means that much to you I will erase big bro's memories. By the Gods, Xena, you know that if Ares finds out he will hate me and you both…..If you ever need help with my niece or nephew just call I still want to be apart of the cuties life."

With that being said , Aphrodite hugged Xena and promised she would take care of everything.

**End of Flashback Back To The Present Three Days After The Siege.**

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**__****Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :)**  



	5. Realizations & Guilty Consciences

**Story Summary:** In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

**Shout Outs: **To Strawberry14, Writer Writing, AresLover, and Guest thank you for your reviews :).

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With that being said , Aphrodite hugged Xena and promised she would take care of everything.

**End of Flashback Back To The Present Three Days After The Siege.**

Still deep in thought about Ares, Xena failed once again to notice the shower of pink glitter. Aphrodite was surprised that Xena hadn't even realized she was there and that she actually had to speak to get her attention. That was a quite uncommon event.

"Earth to Warrior Babe."

Almost jumping with surprise when she heard the Goddesses' voice , she actually needed a second or two before she finally managed to put on a mask of indifference, to perfectly fit with her reply:

"Yes Dite, I was kind of in the middle of something"

"Yeah it look like you were hard in thought there. Well, I actually come here to talk to you about Ar."

Xena gave a sigh of annoyance .

"Look Xena, I know Ares has played a lot of tricks on you during the past few years, but he is trying , you know? I mean, he did offer to protect you and a child that he doesn't even suspect is his, against the other Gods, remember?."

Xena's eyes flashed with anger, and seeing her deadly glare, Aphrodite almost took a step back but still, her mission was far more important than ruining a craftily executed hairdo.

She was going to hold her ground.

"What you pulled back in Amphipolis was low even for you. When Ar asked you if you felt something couldn't you at least been honest about that? You are putting you and Ares 'child in danger, letting the other Gods believe she is fatherless. She looks just like her father Xe, why not give him a chance to be part of his daughter's life? You might be in for a big surprise after all…"

Xena honestly didn't know what to say,. Looking down at Eve she couldn't restrain the thoughts from flowing :

"_Am I really doing the right thing Evie? This lying to Gabrielle thing and putting everybody at risk has become quite a burden…." _

As if reading Xena's mind, Aphrodite instantly interrupted:

"Seriously Xe, I know you still care for Ares deep down and he obviously loves you. Plus….aren't you tired of all these lies? I mean look just how much trouble this situation has gotten you in, not to mention all the needless bloodshed and deaths. How many more people have to die, for you to continue with this charade? If the other Gods knew that Eve was Ares' daughter they would call off these attacks. Please Xe, if you refuse to do it for yourself, at least do it for Eve. She more than deserves to have a father figure in her life….Remember how it was for you to grow up without your daddy…And she will grow up eventually…She will start asking questions…..What then, huh?"

With that being said Dite disappeared without even a trace of pink glitter. She was obviously upset.

The Love Goddesses' words really were a wake up call for Xena. Dite was right, and she knew it: too many innocent lives have been lost due to her poorly written scenario.

That had to stop then and there. What worried her the most though, and what really had her think twice about what she had to do, was the fact that there was a pretty good chance that Gabrielle would hate her for this… she had betrayed her friend's trust. She just hoped there was a way to fix the whole mess.

And above all, her greatest fear at the moment was that Ares, would not even listen to what she had to say. There was a possible chance Ares might be tempted to run her through with his sword, then Eve would not have a mother. Xena left out a deep sigh

"Having caused so much pain and death, I probably do deserve to die in the worst way…"

Gasping slightly , she looked back down to her bundle of joy.

"Evie baby, I know you couldn't possibly understand what's going on right now, but still, I want you to know that everything I've done was for the sole purpose of protecting you. And yes, I might have been selfish, but all I really wanted was to raise you baby, to keep you away from all the violence and bloodshed that has washed over me during these last few years . I wanted something different for you, you know? And it seems that in the end I actually failed doing a good job of it, Tartarus, I even made it worse, but no matter what happens know that mommy loves you."

Gently biting her lower lip in concern, as if trying to get her act together, she rose form the log she had been sitting, and looking towards the sky, in a strong, leveled voice she called out her God's name….with no success the first time, one might add.

She was getting impatient….

"Ares... Tartarus Ares, I need to talk to you!"

When only silence greeted her yet again, she knew she would have to say something more appealing to the cocky War God.

Consequently, gathering her courage, she simply decided to say what was on her mind.

"Ares, I know you are listening… please… I really need to talk to you. I know what I did to you was wrong, but I didn't no what else to do."

And despite the fact that he was miles apart from her, Ares did hear her every single word, it was just that after the events in Amphipolis he didn't want anything to do with her anymore. He was way to pissed off to accept the idea.

Moments later, like some sort of caged animal, Xena became frantic, turning in circles, hoping that he would just show up and she would miraculously feel his presence. Her confidence started to drop though the moment she realized that he wasn't going to answer her calls any longer, so she just yelled to him in a broken and panicked voice.

"Ares I'm sorry! ... I know sorry doesn't cut it but please I need to talk to you it's important! "

"You said I could call on you anytime, Ares I'm calling on you now please just answer me... I need you."

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**_Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :)_**


	6. Ares' Memories

**Story Summary:** In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

**Shout Outs: **To Strawberry14, and Lena2244 thank you for your reviews :).

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"Ares I'm sorry! ... I know sorry doesn't cut it but please I need to talk to you it's important! "

"You said I could call on you anytime, Ares I'm calling on you now please just answer me... I need you."

Listening to her speak, the fearless God was never so tempted to go to her as he was being that very moment, and plus, he could tell through their bond that something was really bothering her, but with all the pain she had caused him recently he just couldn't face her. He was actually rather scared of what he might do to her if he lost his temper., especially given the fact that his mind was quite in a haze, the bottle of Dyonisos' special wine he had just emptied in order to drink his sorrows away, being a clear reminder that he should stay put and talk to her later.

Unvoluntarily, his thoughts began drifting back to their last conversation in Amphilous, after the fight with Athena was over.

**Flashback Scene Amphilous**

There she was! The irritating blonde, walking more arrogantly than a peacock towards his beautiful Princess, apparently wanting to make sure she that she and Eve were okay… or so he thought.

Her eyes were glimmering with a special shade of sass and superiority though, and a devious expression that she always liked to display around him was painted fresh on her face in the form of a smug.…She'd seen him coming closer to them.

She turned back to Xena.

"Did you and...Ares...?"

"No."Xena replied hurriedly.

"Not...yet. " the God rushed to intervene. " Shall we conclude our transaction, Xena?"

The dark haired Warrior looked back at him with a smile.

"You know, it's really kind of you, Ares, but I don't think I'm gonna have to take you up on your offer after all."

"I saved... your child." He spitted out, anguish and disappointment clearly present in his voice.

Throwing the bundle in her arms to him, she simply replied, as if nothing had happened during those endless past hours.

"You saved my dollie."

It was hard to believe that she had the nerve to play him like that, so it was no surprise when, with hasty moves, he hurried and unraveled the bundle to make sure that she was not making some sick joke of some kind…..She wasn't.. … it was indeed a cheap, stupid doll.

Closing his eyes for one short moment he just blocked out the lethal anger descending uncontrollably from his chest to his fists, and trying to calm down for a few more seconds, he just started talking, adamant about not letting it slid just yet, his face contorted delusion and pain.

"Wh...Why do you continue ... to deny us? We had a deal. When we were fightin' side by side, it was like we were one. Back there in the temple...Can you tell me you didn't feel anything"

Stinging indifference in those mesmerizingly beryl moons of hers, she just looked back at him.

"I felt nothing."

And that was it. There was nothing left for him to say. He just started laughing, a bitter laugh, loaded with all the agonizing pain he had been holding within his chest .

He had been ready to give everything up for her and instead of at least a decent thanks you, she just preferred to made a fool of him of again.

"This isn't finished. As long as your child lives, they'll keep coming... and then you're gonna have to come to me for help."

Watching her flushed face one last time he knew that was far from over, and one day, not very far form that particular one, she would be forced to turn to him.

And when that was to happen, he was determined not to answer her call. That day he would be the one holding all the cards, and he was planning to play them right.

Vanishing in a spectacle of blue lights, what he failed to notice though was the pained look that crossed her lovely face or the last comment.

"I felt something…"

End of Flashback

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**_Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :)_**


	7. Talk Between Siblings

**Story Summary:** In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

**Shout Outs: **To Strawberry14, and Writer Writing, thank you for your reviews :).

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"I felt something…"

**End of Flashback**

If Ares liked to pose as a victim and believe that he was the only one hurting though, he was dead wrong, cause the mere memory of her betrayal, stirred inside Xena's soul waves of sorrow that were threatening to engulf her completely.

He couldn't know that…so he was just pacing back and forth inside his temple, yelling at the walls. A common way of relief when it came to him, after all.

"Why must you keeping denying us Xena, don't you know that what we shared in that temple was real?"

"I would have given you anything on the face of the planet in exchange for one chance to prove myself to you…You chose to use me instead, to use my own weakness against me."

"I went against my family for you!...And for what? So that that you could make a mockery out of me ? So that you could lie into my face when we both knew so very well that you were trembling with my every touch? For a false "I felt nothing? I know you lied Xena, I could see it in your face as you said it!"

Aware that he was far from receiving some answers, lonely and frustrated the God just sank back into his throne again, ready to open yet another bottle of wine and just seize the day in glory. It wasn't like he had anything else to do for the night.

Before he could get another sip though, there she was in in a flash of pink glitter and rose fragrance, ready to nag him some more, and to push him to the extreme: his beloved sister, the ditsy Aphrodite.

Already in a bad mood he considered for a few moments ignoring her, thinking that she would just give up and go back to Olympus, and so, he continued drinking as if she wasn't even in the room.

Deep down though, he knew he stood no chance with her…...

Aphrodite had heard Xena calling out to Ares, and when she realized that her stubborn as a mule brother had no intention to answer her, she knew she had to intervene.

"Ar, what's wrong with ya'? You can't keep sitting here, drinking your problems away like some pathetic mortal! I know you're mad at Xe, but can't you at least go see what she wants? Maybe it's important…."

When no answer came she just kept on harassing him with her little speech.

" She needs you Ar, you heard her apologize... What if she finally came to her senses and wants to make things work out between you and her? Could you stand knowing that you've missed such a rare opportunity because of your damn pride?.

Do you really want to sit here moping, when you could talk to her see where this can lead?"

At that point, Ares was steaming mad, silently wondering how in Chronos' name could his air headed sister dare come and tell him how to live his life **and** to top it all, to bring that wench up in his face.

Consequently, he did what he knew best: he made sure that she got the message loud and clear.

"I don't give a damn about that slut, she has betrayed me for the last time. She can as well die for all I care and her little brat to... Go away Dite before I wax the floor with you!"

The Love Goddess knew though that Ares didn't mean what he said; it was the hurt, the anger, and the alcohol.

"Ar, please listen to me…. I know you still love her and I know that deep down her feelings for you are the same. Just listen to what she has to say, ok? You never know…. it might change both your lives for the better."

With that, Aphrodite disappeared in a pink flash of light.

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**_Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :)_**


	8. Time to Face the Music

**Story Summary:** In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

**Shout Outs: **To Strawberry14, Writer Writing, and AresLover thank you for your reviews :).

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With that, Aphrodite disappeared in a pink flash of light.

Ares rose from his ebony throne and threw his goblet in the spot his sister had stood and smashed it against the floor into pieces. Still aching to destroy something, anything, he started zapping the furniture to dust. None of his priestess had dared to walk in cause, knowing his temper, they all stayed away, fearing one wrong move could be their last.

Back at the campsite Xena was cooking up some strategy meant to capture his attention.

She was glad that Gabrielle was still in Amphipolis helping Cyrene, it made what she had to do easier. She carefully placed Eve in her makeshift carrying cradle, and, whistling for Argo, she was ready to go.

"Come here girl, we have to go pay somebody a visit"

Seeing the beautiful mare galloping towards her mistress, the Warrior Princess couldn't help thinking that it was Ares who gave it to her in the first place, another one of the countless things he had given her and that she couldn't part with.

With the ride a little slower than she had intended- avoiding to wake Eve up- Xena headed towards the War God's nearest temple.

" _By the Gods, how in Gaia's name am I going to tell this to Ares when he doesn't even_ _want to have anything to do with me right now?_ _. I can't just show up before his altar and say: __**"Look Ares, I know I told you I hated you and I would rather buy a dog than accept your company any more….but that was just a lie because I didn't want you to know that we have a daughter together…..In addition to that, you couldn't possibly remember the night we conceived it because I kinda had your sister erase your memory,**__**convinced that you could never be a good father"**_

"_He is going to kill me..." _she said to herself, trying to find the best way to face the ordeal.

"_Who knows…" she went on, encouraging herself…maybe I'm just paranoid, maybe he would kiss me instead and say that everything will to be okay…" _

Tilting her head back, she just took a deep breath.

"_Yeah right…..and Hades is skating in Tartarus…..!" _

Being so deep in thought, she hardly realized that they had already arrived at Ares's temple. She slowly climbed off Argo, and looked up at the huge marble sanctuary, and one long look was all that it took to make her nervous

"Here goes nothing Evie, lets hope your Daddy doesn't try to zap Mommy."

Slowly walking up the stairs, she finally reached the main hall, where she stopped briefly, trying to regain her composure.

"I can do this….."

To her utter amazement, she noticed that there weren't any priestess or worshipers around, it almost seamed as if the temple had been abandoned years ago.

She slowly made her way to where she knew Ares' throne room was, continually looking

down at her sleeping little angel, praying that the God wouldn't loose control during their

following chit chat. With her daughter around, there was a lot at stake….

Upon reaching Ares' throne room doors she nearly froze, and believe it or not, she actually did something she would have never imagined herself doing when it came to her patron God: she knocked. She wasn't expecting a reply but instead, she suddenly heard a heavy crash against the door.

"I said I didn't want to be disturbed, leave if you value your life." Ares bellowed.

Arching an eyebrow, Xena seriously considered if that was in fact a good time to pay him a visit or if, she should just ask Dite's help again and tell her to mediate a meeting with him, when, out of shere curiosity, reaching for the handle, she slowly cracked the door open entered.

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**_Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :)_**


	9. Conversations and Offerings

**Story Summary:** In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

**Shout Outs: **To Strawberry14, and Writer Writing thank you for your lovely reviews :).

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Arching an eyebrow, Xena seriously considered if that was in fact a good time to pay him a visit or if, she should just ask Dite's help again and tell her to mediate a meeting with him, when, out of sheer curiosity, reaching for the handle, she slowly cracked the door open entered.

Everything in the room was either broken or turned to ash…..and that's not what scared her though, but rather the look on Ares' face when he set his eyes upon her.

He didn't even blink…..

"_She is gorgeous…." _He couldn't help thinking, but despite the high appreciation, he still wanted to break her lovely neck.

Carefully walking towards his throne, she could tell that he was trembling with anger, aware that he could burst out at her at any second.

She was really sorry about the stunt she had pulled back in Amphipolis though, and with that in mind she knew what she had to do. Seconds later, reaching the altar, she gently laid the still sleeping Eve onto the black marble surface.

Then, she proceeded to walk closer to Ares.

"_What could this blasted woman want now? Hadn't she done enough humiliating me, making a mockery out of me and now, she has this sick, twisted nerve to show up here,in my temple as if she owns the place?" _

Aware that Ares wasn't going to speak, she decided to start the conversation, but to her boundless amazement, before she even had the chance to open her mouth, the God vanished from where he stood-about to enter the aether.

.Slightly panicked, the Warrior Princess said the first thing that came to her mind.

"Ares, Gods damn it, as your Chosen I demand that you stay, listen, and talk with me!"

Furious that she had dared asked him that, after all that she had put him through he barely restrained from blasting her to pieces the moment after.

"What did you say? As my Chosen? For years you have defied me, trampling that ever so sacred vows you took in front of the Fates, challenging me to kill you, to set you free from a commitment that not even Zeus himself would be able too, turning your back on me each time you had that chance and now, right out of nowhere, for the simple fact that you need me to play some Gods know what silly part in some other game of yours, you suddenly want to be my Chosen again? Well sorry Xena, it doesn't work that way, the world doesn't revolves around you, you know. If you gave me up so many times in the past, well I gave you up that fucking day in Amphipolis! So get the Tartarus out of here before your brat becomes an orphan.!"

Xena could only put her head down in shame.

"Ares…I'm so sorry for what I did and I know I was wrong, and I'm not trying to make up excuses here, but honestly, you left me no choice….You'd backed me into a corner and…..I just reacted….. I wish our relationship wasn't so complicated. I know I always justify the things I do to you with what you did to me in the past but this time I was wrong…..Please forgive me….

Lifting her gaze from the ground, for a moment or two she actually dared to look him in the eyes, and seeing his harsh glare gradually melting away, she murmured:

"I…I just came here to tell you how sorry I am…that's all…..I guess I'm tired of all the lies…..when you asked me if I felt something and I said "no", my heart broke to pieces just like I know yours did…..I…..I shouldn't have said it…..your every touch sets me on fire, we both know that….I was just to scared to admit it…."

At this point, she had all his attention , she could tell by the fact that his fists were not clenched in a ball any more, whereas the rhythm of his breathing was getting close to normal.

"Despite having tried to deny it, a day hasn't gone by since Eve was born without me thinking about you…..and if I want to be completely thruthful to myself, I thought about you every single minute since I found out I was pregnant"

If that particular statement didn't manage to send Ares's brain through a loop than nothing could…why on Cosmos would she be thinking of him everyday because Eve was born?

"What would Eve being born or you being pregnant, ever have to do with me ?"He logically asked in complete shock.

All Xena could do that instant was give him a reassuring smile before walking back to the other side of the altar, where taking Eve into her arms again, she kneeled and bowed her head respectfully.

"Ares, God of War as your Chosen I make you this offering not of blood but of innocence I'm giving you what you have desired from me for so long: a child."

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**_Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :)_**


	10. Shocking Discoveries

**Story Summary:** In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

**Shout Outs: **To Strawberry14, Xentrya, and AresLover thank you for your lovely reviews :).

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"Ares, God of War as your Chosen I make you this offering not of blood but of innocence I'm giving you what you have desired from me for so long: a child."

And it was all she needed to say to get Ares' head spinning like a roundabout. His Princess offering him her child? What was that all about?

"Ok…cut the charade already, Xena, I'm definitely not in the mood! What are you up to?"

There was no response. Consequently, despite the fact that he didn't understand anything of what she was up to, it only took one look into her piercing eyes, that he slowly walked over to the altar, and, as in slow motion, he reached down and picked up the small bundle from her mother's arms.

Before he even looked at Eve's face he looked down at a still bowing Warrior Princess once again, to see if she held any objections. She didn't seem to have any so he delicately removed the makeshift cradle from Eve .

If he were mortal, he most certainly would have had a heart attack.

What Ares saw was the most beautiful baby girl he had seen in his entire immortal life…blue were her eyes, just like her mother's sparkling like two sapphires in the sunlight, and her hair was jet black and slightly curly, just like his own, looking at him defiantly, with a steely gaze that he could recognize anytime anyplace.

But Moments before,the little dolly had awoken and she was gurgling happily looking up at her father, reaching for his fingers…And the moment their hands touched, it happened: as in a dream, a magic a flood of memories came to him: the night he had shared with Xena, when Eve was conceived, their little dialogue in the woods, the night Aphrodite came to him with some weird tasting wine, and leaving with tears in her eyes….

"Sorry Ar, I didn't want to do this but Xena was really desperate…Maybe it's for the best…..Maybe you just need some time…"

After the memories stopped flowing, the God clumsily walked over to his throne. He really needed to sit down, and looking from the baby to his still bowing Princess and back, he said it a soft voice:

"Xe, is Eve really my…..our…..I can feel the connection with her, but I want to hear it from your lips."

Slowly rising and walking closer to Ares and Eve, Xena stopped within 4ft. She had knots in her stomach, and her eyes too held some sort of mixture of sadness and fear.

"Yes Ares, Eve is our daughter."

Even though Xena was scared of the God's reaction, she hoped she could lighten his mood. A beautiful teasing smile and a smirk appeared on her lovely face.

"You asked me to give you a child Ares, but I am already the mother of your child."

" I'm not quite ready for a second."

He looked at her in shock, but still, couldn't help smiling a little at her joke. She was the only mortal he knew, that could laugh in the face of chaos.

In the meantime, Eve was too busy gumming on his finger to even bother looking around her. He also had a slight laugh at that. Then she took notice to his ear ring, and suddenly Ares felt his ear ring being pulled down by some unknown force. Eve was reaching for it till...

"Evie stop pulling Daddy's earring before you pull it out of his ear."

Hearing her mother's harsh tone , the little girl instantly stopped trying to get her Daddy's earring, but with a look of hurt on her face she started to cry, loud enough as to brake any witness's heart, making Xena roll her eyes in exasperation.

The following scene made her jaw almost drop to the floor though, when, starting to rock her gently into his arms, Ares began talking to her.

"Shhh…There there, don't cry my little Princess, mommy didn't mean to snap at you…..she's just stressed and tired. She really needs some rest…" he added waving his hand for everything to be returned to it's former glory….well that and something extra, since in addition, a beautiful throne sat right beside his own.

The only thing Xena could do was stare opened mouth at him then he smirked up at her.

"Don't tell me after all this time I still manage to surprise you…"

That got Xena out of her little shock, then Ares gestured a hand to the Queenly looking throne beckoning her to sit. Xena careful sat on the throne.

"You have your moments" she replied rolling her eyes.

"She's so beautiful" The God couldn't help exclaiming analyzing little Eve's splendid features.

"She has such a cute little nose…..and those delicate, thin lips…and the eyes….I honestly think she's the most beautiful child I have ever seen, Xe. She looks a lot like you, you know? " he added.

Hearing his proud tonality, Xena couldn't help throwing a mocking line in his face, not even if she had wanted to.

"Yeah….wait till you start changing her diapers…..Plus, Gabrielle seems to think she looks a lot like you."

"Like me?...Well, I suppose the curly hair is the only hint that would indicate me as a father…."

And though the mood had lightened a bit, the moment her long chain of lines began invading his maind again, he felt a storm forming inisde his chest.

His next words were sour.

"Xe… why did you hide my child away from me?"

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**_Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :)_**


	11. The Calm Before the Storm Pt1

**Story Summary:** In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

**Shout Outs: **To Strawberry14, Writer Writing, and AresLover for your lovely reviews :).

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"Xe… why did you hide my child away from me?"

Staring into her eyes and he could see the guilt and remorse there.

"And why tell me about her now?"

Ares didn't want to argue and make a scene, he was way to happy with the news he had just received, but still, he needed some answers to the countless unanswered questions still bothering him.

Xena waited for a few seconds before finally answering in a soft voice :

"Evander and Nemesis? I mean come on…..you can't really blame me for having refused to let my daughter become some tool that you 'd use for your own selfish motives" Xena 's voice echoed throughout the room , her face suddenly contorted with anger and disgust, her daily mask of shere indifference being rapidly put back up.

"I couldn't possibly know what your twisted plans for her would be and I still don't, but anyway, I guess, I didn't find it fair for her to grow up without her father. I did…. and just look how things turned out to be"

Still boiling mad about the nerve she had to bluntly accuse him of ever thinking to hurt his precious daughter in any way, the only thing holding him back from yelling at her from the top of his lungs was that he didn't want to do it in front of Eve.

The calm before the storm is a right combination of words to describe just how Ares felt at that moment, but still, on the other hand, he could easily understand where Xena was coming from, so, with a heavy sigh he casually ran his fingers through his hair contemplating on what to say next.

"Princess... I know you might think I only wanted a child from you to gain more control over your life, but that's not how things actually stand, Sweet... I was in fact hoping that if you had my child….if we had a child together...just maybe..."

"What were you hoping for Ares?"

Taking a moment or two, the God decided to tell her the truth in spite of everything that had happened lately...Maybe Dite was right after all and this could make all the difference in the world.

His voice was low, unsure and deadly serious.

"I was hoping that if you had my child and if you loved it, then maybe, one day, the love you'd held for that little angel would also extend to me ... I mean, look at our daughter, she is absolutely perfect... so beautiful...Do you honestly think that such an innocent soul could ever be evil? I shouldn't have backed you into a corner like I did, I know, and I'm sorry for that, ok? ...But I swear to you Xena I just wanted something for us to share together. Something to bring us close again...I just...I miss you...so much..."

His next next words were a little colder than the previous though, letting her know that he was still not over what she had done to him.

"I gotta be honest with you here. I'm still very pissed off and believe me when I say this, Princess, we are far from done. You've brought my daughter to me and I respect that, but you are going to have to convince me why in Tartarus I shouldn't just take her away, keep her safe from the other Gods, and no longer bother with you. Cause this very moment Xena...I don't know. I do love you, I do, no point in denying the obvious, but...I need more than that."

If there was ever a moment when Xena was speechless, that was the one. She had never seen the God of War so upset with her in her life... There was so many things that needed to be said. ... She really didn't know how to go about saying them.

Looking down at Eve she suddenly realized she had already fallen asleep in his arms. She knew that Ares wouldn't let this go easy, but she could handle him.

"You're right. We have a lot to talk about. In the meantime, do you have a spare room where we can put Eve down to sleep while we talk? "

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**_Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :) I want to thank all those that have reviewed it brings a smile to my face everytime I see a new comments and suggestions._**


	12. The Calm Before the Storm Pt2

**Story Summary:** In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:**No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

**Shout Outs: **To Strawberry14 and AresLover for the reviewing :).

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"You're right. We have a lot to talk about. In the meantime, do you have a spare room where we can put Eve down to sleep while we talk? "

Reaching out his hand to her, he gently pulled her to him, and wrapping his free arm around her waist, he instantly disappeared into the ether with his two special girls, only to reappear seconds later into the Halls of War.

Taking a look around her, Xena almost failed hiding her surprise.

Even during her warlord days Ares had never taken her to the Halls of War on Olympus.

It was amazing. Ares' bedroom alone looked like the size of a house, with different doors leading to who knows where. As for his bed...it seamed pretty fit for...action, so to speak.

On the other hand, she wasn't surprised at all with the color scheme : black and red just as she had imagined it. From the vast numbers of weapons, antiques arts, and decorations everything was truly breathtaking. And she would have certainly kept ogling the unique chamber, if her stomach hadn't interrupted her and made it's presence known. Xena had almost forgotten she still needed to eat with the previous days' events.

"Sorry, I kind of forgot to eat properly these past few days."

Ares looked at Xena and shook his head:

"Xena, you still need to eat for two, seeing as you still need to breast feed Eve. I don't want my daughter being malnourished just because you want to forget the importance of eating."

"I know you are strong Princess, but you are still only human and humans have to eat regularly"

Xena didn't say anything just put her head down, like a child be lectured by her father. Ares sighed to himself, and waved his hand and a feast fit for a king appeared before them. Xena couldn't help laughing at the sight of the enormous amount of food laying in front of her. There was every kind of meat you could think of from chicken, steak, ribs, turkey, rabbit, and fish. There were numerous types of fruits, vegetables, pastas, and bread. Xena didn't even know where to start; she looked at Ares.

"So now you want me get at least 50 pounds fatter so that I can fit into that king size bed of yours?"

Ares smiled.

"Very funny. I happen to know though that when you set your mind against me, there is nothing you wouldn't do to drive me up the wall. So I just thought I'd give you a little bit of everything so you can't say there was not anything to your liking."

Xena smirked back at him.

" Clever you. Thanks."

Ares motioned Xena to the table as she looked at the vast assortment of food. He always did like to spoil her every time he had the chance.

Elegantly , she picked up a plate and decided on some turkey and gravy with dressing with a side of mash potatoes and corn bread and finally sat down on the well-cushioned chair on the opposite side of the table from Ares.

She didn't even noticed when he took a seat, but he was busy rocking Eve in his arms humming a little tune. If she didn't know any better she would have said it was the lullaby that she had personally made up for Eve.

Casting one furtive glance at the carefree God, who seemed to be handling Eve with so much gentleness, made Xena's heart skip a beat. It all looked so natural, and seeing Ares this way she just couldn't shake the feeling that he had the maximum potential to be a wonderful father.

" Would you mind if I had something to drink?" she hesitantily inquired trying to break the silence.

Ares just looked up at her with the sweetest smile ever, barely holding back a wave of laughter.

"Sure Xe, but no wine for you can't have my little Evie getting drunk out of breast milk."

Xena gave a slight laugh instead, and when she looked back down at the table she noticed a beautiful golden cup with some type of juice in it. She reached out for the cup and took a sip it was so delicious, she thought it might have been Ambrosia.

"Don't tell me this is..."

She didn't manage to finish her sentence though, that Ares interrupted her in a husky voice, rushing to give her an answer, a devilish smile on his handsome face.

"No...No isn't."

Xena just starred at him wide eyes.

"I thought you still wanted that for us..."

Ares looked from here to Eve and back.

"Well...there still are some things left for us to sort out, but with the trust factor is close to zero...'

Xena face fell and she bowed her head Ares continued. She wanted to speak but he stopped her:

"Don't . Listen to me. There are still a lot of questions that I need to have answers to, and frankly, at the moment I'm still wondering what will actually happen between us.

The only thing that I'm sure of is that I want my daughter to be part of my life- that much I know, as for us, honestly Princess, I love you, I do, but... I just don't know ok? I can't promise you anything...It still hurts too damn I'm still too pissed off.

Xena knew that she deserved everything that Ares had said to her. She slowly stood up from her chair and walked to Ares, stopping within a foot of him.

"Can Eve go stay with Aphrodite so we can talk and get things straightened out?"

No sooner did she finish her sentence, that Aphrodite appeared in a flash of pink glitter, with the biggest smile on her face.

"Did I hear someone call me?"

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**_Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :) I want to thank all those that have reviewed, it honestly brings a smile to my face everytime I see a new reviews or suggestions._**


	13. The Calm Before the Storm Pt3

**Story Summary:** In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

**Shout Outs: **To my girl PurpleStrawberry14, Xentrya, and AresLover thanks so much for the reviews :)

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"Did I hear someone call me?"

Ares' face instantly turned into a mask a rage at the sight of his sister, but before he could even say one word, Xena laid a claming hand on his shoulder.

"Please, don't be mad at Dite, I was the one who made her erase your memories in the first place. She didn't want to, but I kinda left her no choice...Plus, she is the one who finally got me to realize how foolish I've been. "

And though the God was still fuming mad, the look in his Princess's eyes told him to let it go. He finally walked over to Dite, his face dark and his eyes cold.

"You'd better take care of my daughter Dite. If a hair on her head is misplaced, I swear it on Styx, I'll turn you to ashes in less than a blink."

The Love Goddess's face fell into a frown of course, but she knew she had part of the blame, so she didn't say anything else, she just slowly nodded while her brother carefully handed Eve to her. She couldn't avoid looking up at her brother with the saddest eyes, though...

"I'll take good care of her Ar, I'm so sorry for everything...I hope you can forgive me..."

But before the God could give her a proper answer, she vanished in her normal flash of pink glitter.

He turned back to Xena with a scowl on his face.

"So let's see if I got this right... you allowed that empty headed sister of mine to be apart of our daughter's life, but you didn't trust me enough to even know about her?"

Xena turned away from Ares and simply stared at the shiny marble floor:

"Ares, I'm sorry ok? I honestly don't know what to say to make things right, at the time I thought I was doing the right. I realize that it has been a foolish mistake, but I am doing my best to fix everything ...I don't expect your forgiveness right away, but I'm hoping that we can come to and understanding for our daughter."

Apart of Ares was wanting to reach out to Xena and kiss all her troubles away, he was still way to upset with her to let it slide that easily. A certain part of him was still very very tempted to smack her down and start yelling at her, but fortunately, a different thought came to his mind.

_"Somebody needs to teach you a lesson, sweet...I do believe it's called the calm before the storm."_

He had a plan. ...he always had a plan...And it always ended bad for the victim...Composedly walking behind Xena , he put both his hands on her shoulders, leaned down and murmured against her ear, so low that he knew he had given her the shivers:

"How about a little sword play my Princess , it feels like eternity since we've actually enjoyed a good fight."

Xena turned around and look at him skeptically. He was up to something. She could smell it, but why?

"_What are you cooking in that devious mind of yours War God?" _she said to herself.

As if sensing her hesitation, he added:

"I'm quite riled up at the moment, and I was hoping to burn off some steam. Plus... I was wondering how good you've actually gotten since the last time we faced off."

Xena was definitely not the right person to lie too though. She just kept staring into his eyes trying to read his thoughts, she could tell that there he had a hidden agenda there. She just couldn't put her finger on it.

"Come on, he pushed. Humour me..."

Tried of acting insecure in front of her God, she simply gave him one of her trademark smiles and with her usual cockyness she retorted:

"Bring it on War God!"

Watching her smile like that, Ares couldn't help thinking how much he adored seeing it brighten her beautiful face...She rarely smiled, especially when she was with him.

Nodding his head he beckoned Xena to follow him into the training room.

"_Ok_..._I think it's about time you remember who's the God and who is the Chosen around here..."_

He led her to two large double doors looking to be at least 15ft high and made of some type of heavy metal. The doors had the Runes of War engraved on their attentively ornamented surface , and a large metal skull decorated their center. Ares waved his hand and the doors slowly started to open.

What Xena saw had her literally amazed. The room was breath taking. It was as large as a football field with large pillars decorating it and fancy blood red carpets. There were thousands of weapons and swords, the weapons were either neatly against walls in shelves, tables, and cases or they were hanging on the walls as decoration. Xena had never seen so many strange and exotic looking weapons in her life.

What Xena saw next in the center piece of the room shocked her into speechlessness; her knees went weak. She grabbed a hold of Ares arm to steady herself, what she saw was a large picture of herself posed for battle with her chakram and sword in hand. Ares only smirked down at Xena.

"I'm guessing you like my training room?"

She only gave a weak smile, trying to regain some composure.

"Is this the weapons room also?, there are so many different types of weapons in here."

The God only laughed :

"No Xe, this room is way to small to be a weapons room."

She only arched an eyebrow and started making her way to the center of that huge place, she couldn't help but think that the large pillars would be great to jump against. She walked behind a pillar and looked at the picture of herself, it was beautiful. It only confused her more about Ares.

" _Why would he even have a picture of me in here?_."

Not wanting to acknowledge the picture though, she turned away from it like it wasn't there. She didn't even realize that Ares was standing right in front of her face until he spoke.

"What are you thinking?... your not usually this off guard"

She just shrugged her shoulders, trying to act as indifferent as usual.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about how good it will be to kick your ass again."

Ares knew she was lying. An evil smirk curved his lips in the following second.

" _I'm going to teach you to stop lying to your God Xena!_"

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**A/N:** Next chapter wont be out for about a week or more, everything so far has been written out and edited already by Xentrya. Won't be posting next chapters, till I know it flows well with the upcoming chapters.

**_Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :) I want to thank all those that have reviewed, it honestly brings a smile to my face every time I see a new reviews or suggestions._**


	14. The Storm

**Story Summary:** In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

**_Shout Outs:_** To my girl PurpleStrawberry14, AresLover, Writer Writing, kahless21, and Wolfgirl77769 thank you for your reviews and support.

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" _I'm going to teach you to stop lying to your God Xena!_"

"So...shall we begin?" she impatiently inquired, in a futile attempt to dissipate the tension building inside her.

Looking down at herself though, she instantly realized that her sword and chakram were missing, the same sword and chakram Ares had given her when she became his Chosen.

Surprise written all over her face, she gazed back at Ares, and, in a snide voice she asked:

"Where the Tartarus are my weapons?"

It was more a statement then a question though, and thus Ares didn't bother replying, preferring to give her a faint smile in return, but when he noticed that the irritation on his Princess' face was still very much present, he just started rubbing his chin as if that was some little detail he had to think about.

"Have you ever considered trying your hand, at some alternate weapons? A good Warrior should be able too master them all, you know..." his reply finally came, in a smug tone of course.

Before she could even bite back though, a table full of weapons appeared beside of her. She eyed the weapons and walked over to them carefully picking up all the swords she liked and examined them. She settled for a Samurai Sword, and turned back to Ares.

He studied her choice of weapon with vivid interest.

"Nice choice, you always knew how to pick the best weapon."

"Now Warrior Princess, are you ready to show me your amazing skills." he added with a devilish ear to ear grin.

As if he wasn't even there, Xena started walking past Ares, obviously annoyed with with his pointless, smart comments.

" _I'll show that smart ass alright, I've beaten him before I can do it again."she thought._

A good 20ft past him, and her famous battle cry broke out.

"Ayiyiiyiyiyiyi"

Wasting no time, she started charging him as if she was about to slice him to pieces.

Still bearing that ever so smug expression on his visage, Ares acted as if he knew something she had no clue about. Ares had a thrill of pleasure seeing his Princess charging him, he was more than ready to Tango.

"_Yes Princess, show me what you got!" _

Ares charged back, as soon as she was close enough she did a high somersault in the air intending to kick Ares to the floor. Unfortunately, as if reading her mind, the calculated God blew her away with his own flip, roughly kicking her down while she was still in the air.

With a loud thud, the Warrior Princess fell down in the blink of an eye, she growled at Ares something he didn't even understand, and before he knew it, she flipped back up to her feet, adamant about charging him head on the ground this time.

As she looked at Ares, he seemed to be laughing. It only infuriated her even more.

"_I'm going to wipe that damn smile off that bastard's face."_ she thought, fumingly, ready to give him all that she was worth.

Another attack, Xena charged him hoping to have the sheer luck to enjoy the unspeakable pleasure of running her sword right through him.

The plan failed to pieces when he gracefully and quickly pulled his sword out and parryed her sword with an almost impossible move, slightly scratching her arm in the process too. It was win win for him thus far...

With a forceful tug, she pushed him away. Seconds later, their swords were clashing again, making the whole room echo loudly with the sound of steel meeting steel.

Minutes later, Ares had precisely managed to knick her with his sword a few times and she hadn't even came close to even getting him yet.

Despite the odds, she suddenly saw an opening though, and she acted accordingly of course, taking advantage of the opportunity, ferociously thrusting her sword in aiming for his midsection. To her utter surprise though, Ares rapidly kicked the blade out of her hand before even realizing it had been a trap, and back headed her she helplessly flew across the room hitting one of the pillars.

Suddenly, Xena saw a opening move and she charged in thrusting her sword in aiming for his midsection. She was surprised at what happened next Ares had kicked her sword out of her hand and back headed her, she flew across the room hitting one of the pillars.

"_Damn that hurt!" _she silently exclaimed. "If_ I didn't know any better I would say he'd_

_been letting me win all those times back then."_

There was no time for that type of philosophical nonsense though, and, consequently, she simply shook the thought out of her head and ran at him with a vengeance.

Ares had already predicted her attack, having already put his sword up.

Two more tricky, agile flips into the air later, made her hope that she had him this time.

At the last minute though Ares turned to the side grabbing her legs and threw her back again, not as hard though this time...to him it was like practice. It was as if he were training her...It was impossible for her not to notice.

Xena recovered quickly, flipped back up and started doing head to head combat with the God, and with each and every blow she tried to lay Ares countered but he kept backing her up.

Realizing that there was no chance in Tartarus to win in hand to hand combat with him, his superior strength and godly stamina reducing her chances close to zero, she started looked frantically around for a sword.

While she was off guard trying to locate her fallen sword, Ares wasted no time though, expertly hitting her again and mockingly throwing her in the direction of her sword.

Gradually this seemed to be turning out to be one of the hardest fights Xena had ever had with anybody. She was bruised and bleeding and she was thinking about throwing in the towel. It's just that her pride prevented her from doing it.

Slowly getting up and reaching for her sword, she noticed Ares wasn't even trying to make any attempts to stop her. Standing up, sword in hand, and staring daggers of course at the smirking God, the look on her face would have surely scared the bravest of warriors.

Ares was not impressed..

" Think this is funny War God?" she inquired irritated by his cocky attitude.

"It's high time someone wiped that smile off your face"

Hearing her line, Ares just couldn't hold back a sneer. He loved seeing her pissed like that.

"Don't make promises you can't keep Princess." he uttered on a low, dark tone that, despite herself, Xena had to admit she hadn't heard him using with her in a long time.

By now, the determined Warrior Princess was exhausted and sweaty as if she had fought at least and small army of men. She had been fighting the God of War for the last half an hour, but still she hadn't even injured him once, let alone tired him out or something.

She didn't care though, she would never admit defeat to Ares. So with the last of her remaining strength she charged one more time, her mind developing a more detailed strategy this time. Swinging her sword at him as they began their deadly dance, this time she seemed to match his strength time. And, after one particular hard blow, she actually managed to hit him with the butt of her sword across the face. He staggered back a bit and, never missing an opportunity , the clever Warrior Princess did another somersault kick, successfully kicking him to ground.

Proud about her achievement, adrenaline rushing throughout her blood like a devastating flood, Xena was about to come up with some snide remark meant to humiliate the ever so confident Olympian but she gave up the idea instantly, the moment she noticed Ares' eyes changing progressively from their usual vibrant amber brown into a shade black as night.

Her blood almost froze inside her veins as she recognized the look he was giving her. She had seen it a few times in the past, but never directed towards her anyway.

Those were the lethal eyes of War itself.

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**A/N:** Sorry about the late update my family was visiting, also I had to prepare for my little ones going back to school. Well that's all next chapter will be posted within a few days.

**_Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :) I want to thank all those that have reviewed ya'll are amazing :D. _**


	15. The Storm Pt2

**Story Summary:** In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

**Shout Outs: **To my girl PurpleStrawberry14 and AresLover thanks for your reviews :).

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Those were the lethal eyes of War itself.

It seems that when she hit Ares, that wasn't the smartest move she could have made, given the fact that she had unwillingly send him into an impossible to control blood lust, every betrayal she had ever done to him now rushing to invade his mind.

The God was no longer in control of his body or his mind, it was like War itself had taken over him. From the darkest corner of his mind, he could now hear the echo of an evil voice enslaving his will:

"Are you really going to let her live, after all the games, the lies, the deceit? You're smarter than that... Kill her! You can do it, I know you can! She deserves to die... she lied to you, she kept your child away from. She laughs at you, she mocks you, are you going to hold with this treason- and from a mere mortal nonetheless, God of War?!"

And only hearing what the voice said, made Ares' blood boil in rage. It was the last drop, he could feel it under his skin, deep underneath his flesh...He wanted to destroy her, to tear her to pieces, to make her suffer, to hurt her just like she had hurt him.

Heading towards Xena, she could almost instantly feel his darkened aura, and, as if aware of what was about tyo happen, she automatically took one step back .

Before she knew it, the maddened War God was charging her, barely giving her the time to take out her sword and parry. He was actually inches from gutting her when she managed to duck, his sword slashing instead deep into her arm, making her almost cry out in pain .

The next moves were a blur to Xena; Ares was battling her like he had every intention of killing her. Looking at him she could tell that his inner demons were in control, and she definitely knew what that meant, she just didn't know how to stop him from turning her into little pieces, to bring him back to his old self. Unfortunately he didn't have any switch off button attached to his belt...

While still struggling to block his powerful blows, every slash of his blade having her faltering back even more, she suddenly noticed that she was trapped against a pillar.

Thinking that she might have seen an opening she took it, without realizing that she had fallen for another one of his plans, and the next second he was kicking the sword from her hand again, knocking her hard against the rough surface behind her.

"You never learn, do you?" he growled angrily.

The next thing she felt, was Ares' fingers curling firmly around her throat, her legs straddling vainly around his waist, as his other hand was pinning both of her hands to the pillar.

She knew there was no escape; the God's solid body was crushing her and his grip around her throat was tightening.

Despite the fact that she had only rarely met face to face with what she considered to be the cowardly sensation of fear, this time she felt it like never before.

She certainly didn't want to die by Ares' hand. She wanted to hold her baby girl again, she had so many things she needed to do and fix. As Eve's angelic visage came before her eyes, tears started building up in her sad sapphire moons...

"_At least she will be with her father" _she thought.

Seeing the tears now trailing down her cheeks, as if having heard a click or some other sort of sign under hypnosis, Ares began realizing what he was doing.

Struggling to get his emotions back in check, before his inner demons killed his Princess, he somehow managed to soften the grip around her neck, his whole body trembling.

Noticing the fact that his eyes were still black, and that War was still controlling his body, Xena knew she had to bring the God back from that trance blood lust state, and she had to do it quick, her life depending on it like never before.

Ever so slowly she moved her head down to Ares' face gently ghosting her lips over his.

When she didn't feel any hesitation she claimed his lips in the most tender of kisses, and though he only responded after about 20 seconds or so, she kept hoping that maybe, just maybe, that would be all the medicine he needed.

Finally pulling back lightly to look him in the eyes, her heart almost came in place; their shade having almost completely returned to the rich amber one.

At that, she gave him an uncontrollably bright smile, and one could tell that she hadn't expected his reaction at all, when staring at her lips for a few more seconds, his hand moved from her neck to the back of her head pulling her brutally into a hard passionate kiss.

By then., Xena's mind was reeling from the passion of it all, she wouldn't have cared if he took her right then and there.

Having freed her arms, his other hand was now roaming up and down her body, and all that she could do was moan loudly into his mouth.

As he pulled back again, and she slowly opened her lust filled eyes, Ares couldn't help noticing the passion mirrored on their watery surface, and it's safe to say that his own weren't much different, except that his held a predatory gleam to them; he was literally looking at her as if he could eat her alive.

One more glance and Xena found out that she couldn't resist him anymore: she had to kiss his lips again. No point in saying that he obliged of course...how in the world could he have said "no" to her?

Her mind in a blur and her blood racing through her veins at maximum speed, the Warrior Princess tried to pull her hands away from Ares grasp. She just had to touch him, to feel him. He made no attempt to stop her. He wanted her just as badly as she wanted him, that was more than obvious, and very soon they were touching and kissing like a couple of hormonal teenagers.

Several minutes later though, just when things were starting to get unbearably hot, right out of nowhere, Ares suddenly pulled away from her, and, gently sitting her own her feet, he took a few steps back.

Confusion written all over her face, Xena tried to close the distance between them but he simply put his hands up and motioned her to stop. Having no other choice, she did just that.

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_**Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :) I want to thank all those that have reviewed ya'll are amazing :D. **_


	16. Humiliation and Punishments!

**Story Summary:** In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

_**Shout outs: **_To my awesome girl PurpleStrawberry14, for all your constant lovely and sometimes evil reviews. You know I got a lot of luv for ya :). And My Guest Reviewer AresLover :).

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Confusion written all over her face, Xena tried to close the distance between them but he simply put his hands up and motioned her to stop. Having no other choice, she did just that.

Searching for his eyes, she could easily tell that he was feeling miserably. He had almost killed her...and now the mere idea of what he was about to do was almost kilng him back.

"I'm sorry Xe, I didn't mean to hurt you like this...It's just that with everything that's been going on I...I just lost it...I don't know what's wrong with me..."

For a short moment, their troubled gazes met, and he seamed more sad and broken than she had ever remembered seeing him in the past.

She tried to comfort him, but couldn't fully mask the still present shiver in her voice.

"Don't...It doesn't matter anymore...I just want to feel you next to me..."

She wasn't lying either, every part of her wanted to pounce him.

Intead, Ares looked at her lust filled eyes and sighed.

"Look Xe, don't get me wrong here... You do mean the world to me, no point in denying the obvious, but we still have a lot of things we need to discuss before I have any intentions of taking that next step with you again. It's not like we're just gonna make out and what you did will magically vanish from my mind, ok? It doesn't work that way."

Xena face fell, anger slowly creeping inside her chest again.

" What do you want from me Ares? I've already told you how sorry I am, I brought you our daughter, I played your stupid game there- that nearly got me killed by the way... What do you expect me to do? Beg for you forgiveness? Come on...!"

Hearing her previous statement, Ares' face immediately turned into a mask of fury and spite. After everything she had done to him, she still had the nerve to deny him some basic answers?

"Well yes, in fact the idea of you kneeling in front of me like your status actually demands you too, wouldn't be such a terrible idea you know. You could respect the protocole for once, Warrior Princess! It wouldn't hurt I asure you! Or does your damn pride get in the way, preventing you from doing it?" he snapped, enraged more by her attitude than by her actual words.

Xena's heart stopped drumming for a second. She knew Ares was still boiling mad at her, but she had never imagined that he was planning to humiliate her like that.

On the other hand, it made all the sense in the world. She had done the same thing to him after all back in Amphipolis , putting him a position in which she herself had hated from the bottom of her heart. He had probably been the laughing stock of Olympus ever since...not a very pleasant situation for a War God...

Still...she hadn't used and humiliate him over nothing. She had made those choices in order to protect her daughter. She had a motive and her motive was strong enough to push her in that direction. But him? He was obviously doing it for fun. For the sheer pleasure of seeing her submissive and more accessible than ever before? That was not going to happen...

"You sick Bastrad! If you really think I'm gonna crawl here at your feet, waiting for you to make up your mind you're dead wrong. And if you're still in the mood of playing games why don't you call Discord or some of those lame priestesses of yours ready to die for your every breath! I'm leaving and taking my daughter with me!" she yelled from the top of her lungs, ready to jump at his throat again.

"What did you say? Your daughter? So now she's suddenly your daughter again? What happened? We disagree one one little detail and whaddya know- I'm not her daddy any more? Who's playing games now, Xena? Face it Gods damn it! You're so fucking selfish that you wouldn't do one single thing against your stupid principles even if your life depended on it!"

"So now you call your pointless twisted pleasure of seeing me beg for your love a "little detail! You make me sick!"

"I make you sick?! " he retorted hardly containing from slapping her again. "Well you certainly didn't give me that impression when you were all over me minutes ago!"

"I was all over you?! " she barked pushing him aside full force, ready to storm out of the room.

Seeing her leave , the God drew a deep breath, realizing that they were just screwing everything up again with their stubbornness.

Aphrodite was right...they could still fix this...for them, for Eve...

Grabbing her wrist he just pulled her back.

"Let me go!" she stated on her low, dangerous trademark tone.

"No" he simply replied, watching her piercingly. "You're gonna stay here and we're gonna talk. Sort things out or however in Tartarus you want to call it!"

"There is nothing that I want to discuss, with the lights of you. Give me my daughter so I can leave." Xena stated sharply.

"Like Tartarus I'm just gonna hand you over our daughter, so that you can get her killed by the other Olympians! She will remain by my side, nobody would dare attack the Child of War... Remember Xena you offered her to me, because you knew that I was the only one who could truly protect her... Put your foolish pride aside, and think for once!"

As much as she hated it, Xena knew he was right but she wasn't ready to admit it and consequently, she just spitted it all out, without as much as thinking to what she was saying

"If I recall you were never there during my pregnancy. I was the one who gave birth to Eve, I don't remember seeing you around helping me through the labor pains. Gabrielle and I have been the ones taking care of her from day one. Where were you during her sleepless nights?...I'm not saying I've been a perfect mother but dammit Ares, at least I've always been there!."

Completely taken aback about her volcanic reaction, the God looked at her as if she had gone mad. Asking him why he hadn't been here? Was she serious?

"Are you kidding me Xena? How can you even stand here, accusing me of not having been there for you? I'am the God of War for Zeus's sake , not the Oracle of Delphi! How could I have known that you were pregnant if you had that air headed sister of mine erased my every memory of the event?. Had I known you were pregnant with my child, I would have been by your side each and every step of the way, and you would definitely not have been lallygagging around, putting yourself and my heir in danger... And if you still feel that you need a reminder, our daughter is the target of all Olympus because you didn't have enough faith in me to do the right thing!"

Bowing his head in defeat, his next words were slightly above a whisper:

"Dammit Xe, Why won't you just give us a chance?"

Xena was no longer struggling in his grasp, she had seen the flicker of sadness pass his brown eyes and she knew she had just made it worse. He was right of course, she had kept him out of their daughter's life. Ares would have been there, pestering her everyday, but Zeus knew she always hated having to admit she was wrong.

But, there was one thing she couldn't deny , no matter how hard she tried: she had definitely humiliated him, and, for once she told herself, she could put her pride aside for the sake of her child.

Her next words took Ares totally off guard, but made him more thrilled than she had ever anticipated:

"Fine Ares, What in Hades' name do you want then? ...Do you want me to beg?... Do you want me to grovel?. Matter of fact I'm sure you can come up with something more creative then watching me do both of those damn demeaning things."

Being the strong willed Warrior that she was, Xena did had a point there, and, let's face it: she preferred being beaten or even whipped anytime than being forced to growl at the God's' feet.

Hearing her, Ares released her wrist, and, scratching his chin lightly, he pretended to be deep in thought. He looked her straight in the eyes before replying:

"So my Princess... do you promise to accept any punishment no matter how humiliating it is?"

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_**Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :) I want to thank all those that have reviewed, followed, and favorited my story ya'll are amazing it really does mean a lot to me. :D. **_


	17. WHAT! You Can't Be Serious

**Story Summary:** In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

**Shout Outs:** To my girl PurpleStrawberry14 my loyal reviewer, Xentrya my lovely muse/editor, Areslover, and my new reviewer x8-twilight-8x. Thank you so much for the reviews. I had no intention of posting this chapter till for a few days but x8-twilight-8x and AresLover motivated me to post it early.

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"So my Princess... do you promise to accept any punishment no matter how humiliating it is?"

Xena looked at him resignedly, strategically arching an eye brow for a moment as to clearly indicate him just how displeased she was with the thought, hoping that in the meantime she could get and idea of what he was planning.

Finally, she decided to just go along with the God's' stupid little plan.

"Whatever Ares, the sooner I'm finished playing your sick and twisted game the sooner I will be reunited with my Evie."

The Olympian just gave her and evil smirk, he knew exactly what he wanted from his Princess. His following words thus, were incontestably more commanding, as if he were talking to a mere servant.

"Xena, Warrior Princess, for hiding the heir of War from me, and humiliating and using me for your gain...I condemn you to serve me for one night as my priestess while I entertain a woman of my choice...And no, Xena, you are not allowed to interfere with my date regardless of the circumstances. The sole purpose of your presence is for you to be at the beck and call of me and my guest. If you can successfully serve me for this one night, then all will be forgiven...One more thing, you are not to call me by name during that time. You may call me Mi'Lord. Is that understood?."

The proud Warrior Princess looked at Ares like he had been stark raving mad.

"W h a t?!" she stuttered.

Ares gave her a handsome smirk.

"My dear Xena, surely you aren't starting to lose your hearing. I thought mortals didn't start to lose this ever so useful ability until their golden years." Ares replied in a smart aleck tone.

Knowing that he was doing all this only to humiliate her, she suddenly took it into her head to show him that she could indeed get through his filthy punishment without even breaking a sweat. In the end why would she even care that Ares was going to entertain another woman? She would just watch him make a fool of himself.

"Don't tell me you're expecting me to get jealous, Ares? Do you really think that I'll even care if you entertain some random harlot? You could as well screw a room full of Hestian Virgins!"

Ares just gave her and all knowing smirk.

"That's very good Xena, I wouldn't want you to lose your temper. Seeing as I have every intention of indulging myself... So are you ready for tonight's festivities?"

Even though she was trying to deny it, the mere thought of Ares with another woman sent a wave jealously through Xena's veins. She composed herself though and, standing up straight, on her normal, indifferent tone she replied:

"Yeah, sure lover boy. Just bring your love struck worshiper here, so we can get this over with."

"I don't think so... I have no intention of just bringing anybody to Olympus. Besides I have something more suitable in mind."

The highly observant Warrior Princess instantly caught on to the implied indication to his statement. Silently, she couldn't help wondering if she was the only mortal he had ever brought there.

Flashing her another smirk before they vanished into the aether, they soon materialized in the God's Fortress in Sparta. And, one should also add that they weren't actually in any random part of the Fortress...No...the cunning Olympian had chosen to make them appear straight to Xena's old bedroom.

Realizing where they were, the Warrior Princess found herself on the verge of exploding. How dare he bring her here? They had spent most of their nights together in that particular chamber. She had pledged herself to him and given him her virginity in that very place. She could barely hold the retort that was on the edge of her tongue.

"Why in Zeus' name are we here ARES!? she said louder then she had planned.

He only looked back at her in mock innocence.

"Well... I was planning on having my guest visit here, that's not a problem is it?"

And though she nearly jumped at his throat, ready to take a considerable bite out of his jugular , she had no serious intention of falling for his little games. She fairly decided that she would play along and she would show that cocky Bastard that she couldn't care less of whom he entertained and where.

"No, why would there be a problem?" she finally stated sourly.

"Perfect, because I wouldn't want you starting any trouble...Now, on to business! I'll be back within an hour -you hang tight. Make sure you are in the dinning hall when I arrive with my guest...Oh and one last thing- make sure you are wearing your High Priestess robe."

With a low growl and very much tempted to snarl at him, she simply bit back:

"Just go get your stupid whore, already."

Without saying one more word, but making sure to keep that annoying grin glued on his face, the God disappeared in a flash of blue light.

Right after Ares' departure, feeling the overwhelming need to let all the steam out, Xena through herself upon her large four poster bed, where, grabbing a pillow she screamed all her fury into. She knew this wasn't a warrior trait but otherwise, she was ready to tear somebody limb from limb.

Minutes after mentally berating herself, she decided she should get up and get ready. Looking around the room she noticed that everything was exactly how she had last left it. Nothing had changed...and she hadn't been to that fortress ever since she set out on the path of the Greater Good...it had been awhile...

Walking over to her closet which was fit for a queen, she briefly looked around trying to find what she was looking for. The closet was very large, filled with dozens of beautiful dresses that Ares had bestowed upon her...and there it was! One of her High Priestess robes.

She decided to hurry up and get dressed so that she could check out the Fortress before Ares's arrival with his uninvited guest, without forgetting to check herself in the mirror before leaving the room of course, brushing her hair and adding a little lipstick, making herself more appealing. And though she hadn't even realized it she had in fact spent more than 30 minutes carefully looking over her reflection. That definitely said something...

Finally exiting her room, she made her way through the great halls of the fortress, marveling at how magnificent it was. She had almost forgotten...

Carefully scrutinizing the area, she couldn't help wondering why weren't there any more priests/priestesses walking around. In the absence of a certain answer though, she just shrug the thought away, and decided to go look into Ares' throne room, but, not long before she could get to her intended destination a priestess approached her and bowed her head in respect.

"Hello High Priestess, our Lord wishes me to show you to the dining hall."

Xena nodded her head and followed the young priestess. Upon reaching the dining hall the priestess motioned her in and the first thing Xena noticed was that there was nobody in the dining hall, despite the fact that the table was set to perfection.

Noticing that the priestess was taking her leave, Xena decided to stop her.

"Wait! "

The priestess turned and looked at her superior, a quizzical expression on her face.

"Yes, High Priestess" the priestess asked timidly.

"Did your Lord, give you any other instructions...Or tell you anything about the upcoming events? ."

"No my Lady, our Lord only gave me the specific instruction to bring you here.. Is there anything else I might be able to assist you with?" she asked hoping to gain Xena's favor.

"No, that is may go." Xena replied casually.

The young priestess bowed her head again and left.

Xena was now all by herself, stuck with her fears and concerns, thinking about the countless times she and Ares had eaten in that beautiful room. She hated the fact that he was going to share the same memory with some other woman.

Slowly walking closer to the table she attentively looked over everything.

And everything looked good... she was just irritated that Ares would even dare entertain a woman like he would her.

Before she got the chance to finish that thought though, right out of nowhere, two flashes of light appeared. One was Ares's regular royal blue, and the other was the hot pink light of some unknown beautiful woman.

They were both laughing together and not paying her any attention.

In an instant, the Warrior Princess knew that she was a goddess and, looking her over, to her much dismay she couldn't help be amazed by her beauty.

She had beautiful silky long hair, long shapely legs, a flat stomach- she literally had the body of a goddess. And, if one could even imagine, her clothes were even skimpier then Dite's, leaving nothing to imagination. She was perfect in every way,Xena knew she couldn't hold a candle to this beautiful goddess.

Way to preoccupied with finding at least one tiny flaw to the gorgeous woman standing but steps away from her, she almost failed to realize that the Goddess was talking about her.

"Who is this mortal Ares?" she asked with disdain.

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_**Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :) I want to thank all those that have reviewed, followed, and favorited my story y'all are amazing it really does mean a lot to me. :D. **_


	18. Anything else Mi'Lord and Lady?

**Story Summary: **In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

**Shout Outs: **To my girl PurpleStrawberry14 , writer writing, and Areslover. Thank you so much for taking the time to review. Oh and to my newest reviewer my dear friend Lady Death, I know you don't really like Xena that much or reviewing for that matter so I want to say thanks babe your the best luv ya :). I would go back and add you to my shout outs list but girl friend you know I'm lazy just like you :D.

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"Who is this mortal Ares?" she asked with disdain.

Ares just waved a hand like it was no big deal, and answered off handily:

"Just one of my X-priestess that is trying to get back in good favor with me."

The beautiful goddess never took her eyes off Xena, she was looking at her like she was some type of trash. A noticeable trash nonetheless.

Seeing that she wasn't taking her eyes off the warrior Princess, he decided to interrupt.

"You seem to be awful curious about her, would you like to meet her?"The Goddess turned to Ares gracefully: .

"Yes, I would like to meet this mortal creature that you deem is worthy to be in our presence."

Meanwhile, Xena was watching and praying that she didn't lose her temper, listening to her inner demons in some anger crises and just strike the over confident bimbo both walked closer to her. Ares was acting as if he really wasn't even looking at her, he acted as if he only had eyes for his guest. When they approached, the War God looked Xena dead in the eye before saying:

" Bow your head humble Priestess before the the Canaanite Goddess, Astarte- the ever so fairly praised Goddess of Desire/Seduction, Beauty and Warfare."

To Xena that was genuine shock. She couldn't believe that this Goddess governed over Warfare, Desire/Seduction and Beauty . She just couldn't conceive that this scantily dressed Goddess even had the ability to fight or even come up with a battle plan. Xena hated to admit but the threads of jealously were seeping in.

Still, she gave the Goddess a quick bow of her head while hearing Ares continue.

"Astarte, this is Xena our server for tonight's festivities." Xena nodded her head in acknowledgment.

The Canaanite Goddess was looking at Xena in a puzzled expression.

"Ares, isn't this your prized warrior you used to speak so much about?"

Ares face fell flat, he was hoping she had forgotten and wouldn't bring that up in front of Xena. He tried to play it off coolly.

"No, that's a different Xena. It is a common name in Greece, you know. But I thought you have met my Warrior Princess being the Goddess of Warfare and all...Any way...how about a glass of wine? "

That being said, the God of War walked them to their seats without even bothering to give Xena a glance.

That didn't seem to upset Xena since she couldn't care less, planning on doing her best to ignore them both.

Minutes were passing and, the two had started to carry on in conversation. The Goddess was pretty much giggling about everything that Ares had to say, and in the most cheesy manner possible, she kept touching him with her hand every time she started giggling.

By this time, the Warrior Princess was already despising her with every fiber of his being, wanting nothing more from life than to chop her into mince meat.

And, off in her on little world as she was, thinking of just what she would do to both of them if she could, she barely even registered the Goddess calling to her in a rude tone.

"SERVANT!"

Xena bowed her head and talked through gritted teeth.

"Yes my Lady"

"My drink is almost empty, it is your job to ensure that our drinks stay full at all times?."

Xena looked over to Ares to see if he would intervene, he was still looking at the Goddess like she was the most beautiful woman on the face of the earth.

Xena's blood was literally boiling there. She couldn't believe that he was humiliating her like this. Xena made her way to both of them and filled both of their cups. And though she had finished filling their cups, the Goddess was still looking at her expectantly.

As much as she tried to utter her following words pleasantly, they tasted sour on her tongue.

"Anything else Mi'Lord and Lady?"

Ares didn't even bother given her a glance of acknowledgment, the Goddess waved her off like some common slave.

Placing herself right behind them, she was now watching their every move, and luckily for her, the bimbo was to busy giggling and rubbing on Ares she wasn't really paying any mind to her drink nor Ares. She was right about to go back to ignoring them again till the Goddess asked Ares a question in a pout like voice.

"Ares why haven't we had sex, like we used to...You were always such a beast between the sheets!"

The God only gave her a slight laugh, and the following moments Xena's mind was working overtime.

_"What?! Am I hearing things? Did he actually sleep with this sleazy Goddess?!." _Xena voiced in her mind, rage filling her inside out..

As for Ares, who could easily perceive all her bottled up fury and jealously, things couldn't have worked out better no matter how hard he tried ...Consequently, he decided he was going to turn the heat up a notch, just for fun., adamant about pushing his Princess's patience to the limit.

Gently taking Astarte's small hand in his, he kissed the back of it before launching stingingly:

"I didn't think you would even miss me...Seeing as you have so many Gods/Goddesses pawning over your ever affection, eager to do your every bidding..."

Astarte batted her lashes at him sexily, much to the Warrior Princess' despair before replying :

"That may be true Ares, but none of them can handle me the way you can. You always seem to know exactly what I need... I truly believe that you are the only one in the entire Cosmos that has the ability to tame me"

Having to watch this theatrical exchange of lines between the two almost made Xena sick to her stomach. She hated being a part of this whole situation.

Ares obviously didn't feel the same though, since the slight chuckle he gave Astarte sounded pretty honest. He found her quite amusing actually.

"You are quite an exquisite creature, my dear, and might I add also extremely talented .in between the sheets. Any God or Man would jump at the opportunity to have you, I'm just not quite sure I still have what it takes to tame you anymore." he said in mock innocence..

And despite Xena doing her best to ignore what he was blabbing there , she just couldn't help feeling a twinge of hurt while listening to his fiery confession.

She would have given the world for the night to just mend it's pace somehow and end sooner that normal.

Seconds later, she noticed Ares motioning to Astarte's food.

"You know, we haven't even touched our food yet, and I do assure you beautiful, you wouldn't want to miss out on dessert." he whispered in a sultry tone.

The Goddess' s mind was racing...she couldn't help but desire Ares. He was so devilishly handsome and unattainable...If he had ever offered her the chance, she would have gladly accepted to be his Goddess of War. Still, she knew that the possibility was slim to none...

"If you insist, I'm more than ready to partake in dessert." she murmured back, and she was certainly not referring to the delicious cake from the center of the table.

Finally, to Xena's unspeakable joy, there was silence, as they did start eating their dinner, after all. It didn't last long though for Astarte decided it was high time she made a request.

"Ares aren't we going to have some entertainment while we eat?"

The God gave her a sly look before answering;

"What do you have in mind darling?"

Astarte thought about it for a bit, and suddenly, a rather twisted idea came to her head.

Since she needed to be amused, what better way to do it than to make Ares' servant look stupid. She didn't like her anyway...And she knew exactly what she had to do, it came to this type of things she was a real expert.

Throwing the War God a clever look, she then turned her attention to the Warrior Princess...

_"This is going to be fun..."_ she said to herself, before addressing the object of her future scheme.

"Come here Servant!"

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_**Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :) I want to thank all those that have reviewed, followed, and favorited my story ya'll are amazing it really does mean a lot to see what people think of your writing. It gives you the motivation to continue and write more :D.** _


	19. You Don't Know How to Dance?

**Story Summary: **In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

**Shout outs: ** To my girl PurpleStrawberry14 , and Areslover. Thank you so much for taking the time to review.

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"Come here Servant!"

Barely restraining the urge to roll her eyes, and biting her tongue hard in order to keep a quite nasty reply from leaving her mouth, Xena grudgingly willed her feet over to the table near the annoying Goddess, before replying:

"Yes My Lady?"

The Goddess didn't even bother looking at her though, instead she focused on Ares.

"Why don't we have your servant dance for us?"

Xena's eyes went slightly large... surely Ares wouldn't dare make her do this... Would he?

His answer came as a slap over the face of course, before she even finished her interior monologue.

"I just love the way in which we complement each other. You do read my every thought...You're right, that's the least she can do...we do need some entertainment after all. I certainly wouldn't want you to get bored by my side."

"Never" she cut in, breaking his line with a long, passionate kiss.

Her eyes glued on the sexy scene unfolding just steps away from her, Xena was ready to strangle him, and she still couldn't decide if it was because of the kiss , because of the fact that he had dared ask her to dance knowing how much she hated it, or both.

With the speed of light, she came up with a smart reply that in her opinion was meant to at least get her out of the demeaning act. Hopefully...

"Mi'Lord and Lady, forgive me but I'm not dressed for the occasion. Plus, I really wouldn't be able to provide a good enough show since dancing isn't precisely my cornerstone, let's say..."

The Goddess just stared at her for a few seconds, an evil smile distorting her beautiful features.

"You don't know how to dance servant?... Well I guess it's high time you learned, then!"

_"You make me sick Ares, I hope you are listening...because when this is over I swear I'll never let you touch me again." _Xena made sure to mentally mention, certain that Ares would hear her.

Hearing his Princess' revolted thoughts, Ares couldn't help licking his lips in contentment, as another bright idea flashed throughout that dirty mind of his.

"I was thinking Astarte... why don't you heat things up with a dance? I would bet my godhood, it would be incomparably more entertaining than seeing this clueless servant make a mockery out of herself. Whaddya say?"

Astarte looked back at the her dream God with a toothy smile.

"Prehaps you're right ...I might just give your servant something to go by."

"Prehaps" Ares stated simply.

A cocky glimpse in her eyes, the Goddess gave Xena another glance before rising from her chair, a look that had some sort of " prepare to be amazed" message written all over it.

By now, the Warrior Princess was so furious that she could actually feel her heart drumming inside her temples...The Bastard- how she liked to call Ares each time he did something to annoy her - had not only humiliated her terribly but he was also letting some worthless Goddess drool all over him. She didn't know how much more of this madness she could take.

And despite having attempted to block everything out she couldn't stop herself from watching, listening and analyzing at the same time. A sudden feeling of hurt hit her heart big time, when she came to the awareness that Ares had preferred to watch Astarte dance, over her.

She couldn't help wondering though:

_ "Is this what he felt like when I betrayed him in Amphipolis? ...Did he feel as humiliated and insignificant as I do now? ...I swear it Ares, I wish I could take it all back." _

Now she had to stand back and watch this bimbo dance for her God...

She didn't manage to think too much about it though, that the obnoxious Goddess vanished in her hot pink flash of light to the center of the room, where, right out of nowhere, a pole appeared.

Her clothing had also changed to that of and exotic belly dancer. She chose an even more translucent pink skirt, which offered a good view of her bronze long legs while on the upper part of her body she was wearing a small top to match, barely covering her full breasts. She didn't really want to leave anything to the imagination.

The entire outfit was coated in mini gold bells which were destined to chime with her every movement. She knew she was beautiful and she was determined to claim Ares' the seductive accords of the music magically started to fill the air, the Goddess began to slowly move her hands and body, rhythmically undulating to the captivating beat.

She was planning to hypnotize the War God in any way that she could, and using her undeniable charm was the best way to get there, determined to make him wanna change some aspects of their rather platonic relationship. In that intended purpose, she enticingly began rolling her sexy hips with the experienced moves of one of the most passionate belly dancers to have ever walked on the surface of the earth . She had been trained in the arts of dancing for as long as she could remember after all, so she had no doubt that she could easily mesmerize the handsome God, making him fall under her spell as if he were some ordinary mortal.

Men were all the same she thought, and thus Ares' brain had to work pretty much according to the same principles as all the others.

And she was indeed captivating, no person in her rightful mind could have denied it. So it was no surprise that, the very instant her perfectly shaped body started swinging with amazing talent, skilfully describing the pattern of some invisible lines and circles that the jingling golden bells of her dress and top were almost bringing to life with her every step, Ares' eyes almost pooped out of his head , as a clear confirmation of her grace and artistry.

What was absolutely fascinating about her little dance routine was actually the way in which her hands were moving, their elasticity, the unbelievably unexpected way in which even the last of those fragile, slender fingers of hers could express something... Gradually, while carefully executing a traditional Canaanite dancing figure, she started leaning her body back rolling her belly, her long wavy hair almost brushing the floor. She was a wonder to watch.

As she continued her exotic number, Ares kept his eyes glued on her...she did look beautiful dancing but still, despite the obvious pleasure of watching her, there was a certain coldness in his gaze. And that was almost natural...He had seen belly dancers from all around the world performing for him, after all... It was not as if he was seeing something new.

One might say that he had actually expected a more animalistic show from her behalf, something to fit her sexual demeanor better. All in all, despite the Goddess' undeniable charm, he was not overly pleased with what he was seeing, but, what mattered the most was that he didn't want to act as if he wasn't appreciating the efforts.

Therefore, like some sort of consolation prize, he gave her a sexy smirk and put his goblet in the air as if to raise a toast to her, flawlessly faking both admiration and excitement.

Xena rolled her eyes again. She was doing it a lot lately... yeah, Astarte was marvelous but most women of those days were trained in the art of dancing. And without denying her irresistible, eye catching moves, the Warrior Princess could swear that the proud Astarte was far from being the ultimate bomb when it came to it, that much she could tell. She was doing wonderful. But wonderful was definitely not spectacular.

The dancing bimbo was the least of her concerns though, now as her mind was constantly drifting to Ares' behavior. She still found it hard to believe that the God was actually having the nerve to entertain this cocky Canaanite immortal. Sure, she might have been beautiful and the Goddess of Warfare to top it all, whatever, but in her eyes she was just another dumb love struck chick, ready to kill for him in the exchange of one single kiss.

The mere idea sickened her. It's useless to say that when Astarte started dancing closer and closer to the pole, until her back started rubbing against it, cunningly wanting to make Ares imagine that she was dancing on him, Xena had to take a big bite out of an apple in order to restrain a loud ironic "Oh give me a break protest from leaving her mouth."

It was official: she hated the bitch. And that became even clearer when the slutty Goddess began running her hands up and down that pole as if she had been caressing Ares' shaft, impudently letting him know exactly what she had in mind, leaving no room for doubts.

Still curiously following her each and every move, Ares couldn't help feeling a bit uncomfortable, pretty much aware that, judging by the lustful glimpse in the woman's eyes, she had been hoping for so much more than a glass of wine and a few scattered kisses. And he was definitely not planning to give her more than that. She was a far too easy prey for his taste.

He could have had a woman like her any time, without even putting any no considerable effort into it...in a word...BORING. He had to hang on though, he was well aware of that...he was doing it with a purpose after all...a very different prize was waiting for him at the end of that night and that's what he was actually fighting for.

Watching Astarte's wonton expression as she started closing in the distance between herself and the object of her desires, literally pushed Xena on the verge despair, the frustration building gradually inside her chest reaching higher and higher levels by the second.

Needless to say that the instant she additionally decided to crawl into the God's lap and shake her breasts invitingly into his face, silently hoping he would take the bait and just grab her do ...something, the Warrior Princess was breathing fire through her mouth nose and ears at the same time!

Disappointedly noticing that Ares wasn't exactly impressed by her audacious performance, making no attempts what so ever to touch her, his mind being much preoccupied with imagining just how much erotic that whole situation would have been if it had been his Xena rubbing against his crotch like that, Astarte decided that probably an even more direct approach would do the trick.

Consequently, diving her hands under his leather vest, and pulling him unexpectedly into a wild ferocious kiss, was the next best thing she could do, and seconds after she pulled back to look at him, encouraged by a sexy smirk playing on his delicious lips, she kissed him again, deepening it considerably this time...

_" You sleezy bitch!" _ Xena's mind started yelling outraged by what was happening but steps away from her _"How dare she throw herself in his lap like that? And yet again , how does this desperate for a fuck Basatrd dare do this in front of me_? " but she stopped abruptly, the very moment she realized that for all that she knew Ares could have been listening to what she was saying, reading her mind just like he had done it so many times in the past. She definitely didn't want him to know just how jealous she was..

Whatever presence of mind she still had, told her that she needed to get out of that situation and quick, and given the fact that those two horny rabbits were awfully busy jumping all over each other, she inquired in a strained voice, hoping that no one would answer in fact and thus her absence wouldn't be noticed.

"Mi Lord, I was wondering if I may go get some more wine."

Just as she had expected, if Ares had even heard her he obviously wasn't acknowledging her so she simply decided to take her chances and leave the room. She had only managed to take three steps though before she herd his booming voice echoing throughout the large hall.

"I didn't give you permission to go anywhere!"

Looking back at her God, she saw him eying her evilly, while his bimbo was smiling approvingly at hearing Ares's commanding voice.

Saying nothing she just backed up and stood perfectly still.

The ideal moment for Astarte to decide that it was time to have some serious fun by humiliating her even more,

"Now now Ares, no need to let this pitiful mortal upset you in such away. Plus, it's her turn to to entertain us, right? Even if she can't dance I'm sure we will at least enjoy laughing at her while she makes a fool of herself. If she can't be a dancer she can at least be a jester."

Ares just gave Astarte a grin before nodding.

"Servant...I believe it's high time you showed us what you can...or can't- in your case- do." she ordered inflexibly.

Xena took a few steps forward before retorting:

"My Lady, as I said before I do not have the appropriate clothes for such type of performance."

The Goddess was bewildered. She couldn't believe that a despicable mortal had just dared to talk back at her. Slowly removing herself from Ares' lap, she stood up to look Xena straight in the face, her eyes explicitly revealing a strange mixture of both anger and amusement.

"Unless you want me to turn you to ashes the following second, you will do as you are told. Now I don't intend to repeat that one more time. ..."

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_Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :) I want to thank all those that have reviewed, followed, and favorited my story y'all are amazing it really does mean a lot to me. :D. _


	20. Let's see what you've got, Princess

Story Summary: In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

Copyright Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

Special Thanks: Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

_**Shout outs: **__ To my girl _PurpleStrawberry14 , my lovely muse Xentrya, Areslover, Stardawn19, and last but not least my sista from another mother LadyDeath01. Thank you so much for taking the time to review it always puts a smile on my face.

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"Unless you want me to turn you to ashes the following second, you will do as you are told. Now I do not intend to repeat myself one more time. ..."

Her tone was low and menacing. Xena could tell she was serious. She didn't like it, but as she was forced to deny herself the pleasure to wipe the floor with her, she just bowed her head in acknowledgement.

Astarte went back to her seat beside a very intrigued War God.

Having no other choice, a quite stiff but ready to blow their minds away Warrior Princess, made her way to the center of the room, determined not only to show that lousy bimbo what seducing a man really meant, but also to make Ares wanna scratch his own eyes out for having looked twice at that wrench.

Thinking a bit about what she was wearing, she was glad to realize that the decision of having put on a sexy black lace corset on and some matching panties pretty much saved the day for her.

She didn't quite know why she had chosen such extravagant outfit in the first place, it wasn't like she was planning on doing anything special that night, but the mere thought that Ares was going to entertain some woman stirred in her the urge to be sexy, despite the bleakness of the situation.

It was let's say, her personal way to get even...

As the music began flowing through the air again, Xena, made sure she looked at Astarte's mocking figure, just to give herself the pleasure to register the Goddess' before and after expression,knowing that the moment she was about to start dancing that irritating grimace would be repainted into a whole knew portrait-which would have the word shock written all over it.

What Astarte fail to see in fact was that particular flash of determination that passed through those royal blue orbs, just a flash, an insignificant glimmer of something that on the other hand anyone who knew the Warrior Princess could have recognized within less than a blink.

For Ares that was a hard to miss detail, of course. Silently, he couldn't help wondering what she was up too. Therefore, he decided to give her his full undivided attention, looking her deep in the eyes before offering her a devious smile to start with, obviously daring her, challenging her to come up at his expectations.

"_Let's see what you've got, Warrior Princess" _he whispered through their bond, urging her to push her limits as hard as she could.

Contenting herself with giving him a defiant gaze, she sensually started to glide her hands up and down her body, as if just to spite him, knowing how much he desired her, aware that he would have raped her if needed just so that his hands could be the ones touching her like that.

Slowly reaching up, she delicately pulled one sleeve off her shoulder, making sure that she caressed the skin revealed in the process, taking her time before she repeated the gesture with the other one, just to finally slide the robe down to her waist, exhibiting the fine lacy black corset, that made her breasts look even hotter and fuller than usual.

As if it were made especially to attract all the attention in the room, the corset's edge ended right above her belly button, thus giving the God a perfect view of her creamy white toned stomach and flat abs.

Who could have asked for more?

Slowly at first and then more and more energetically , Xena began rocking her hips to the beat of the music, making sure to gradually spin around in the process too, giving both of her spectators a hot view of her brash ass before tortuously tempting the God to madness the moment she sexily wiggled out of her robe- a will I won't I expression of her face- before she finally allowed it to fall in a heap on the floor, revealing those long perfectly sculpted legs too.

Sauntering over to the pole like she was on a runway, she firmly hooked one leg onto it before looking at Ares, an ever so devilish expression spread across her lovely features as her senses were instantly flooded with lust and a quenchless thirst to feel him.

A few feet away, still seated next to Astarte, the God was eyeing her every move, and he could see from that particular glimmer in her eyes that her body felt on fire under the effect of his wonton gaze. She felt powerful knowing that she had his undivided attention and the awareness that he was the source of her energy could only draw a trickster smile on his lips.

That was the moment when she decided that she was only dancing for him and him alone. She couldn't care less if that trampy Goddess was watching.

As far as she was concerned there were but two people in that room: her God and her.

The show was about to start, and if the Warrior Princess was good at something else besides fighting, that was attracting attention, even when she didn't intend to.

And if the Cananite Goddess had believed that she was like the ultimate master of some nasty, twisted , original technique of using that pole, well Xena was about to show her otherwise, the minute she began grinding her hips against it while using her hands to hungrily roam over her scantily clothed body –that was just screaming for attention.

... Astarte could no longer restrain a loud gasp. She was absolutely revolted, and if she had formally made a habit out of addressing Xena with the degrading name of "servant" , it had turned crystal clear by now that "harlot" would have been so much more appropriate...Her mind was definitely set about that one and the Warrior Princess' ecstatic image , with her head dipped back casually, eyes closed, tongue softly moisturizing her dry lips while her fingers were lazily gliding down her breasts and belly and slowly, very slowly , further down in between her thighs as if she was about to have an orgasm, made her wanna blast her on the spot.

What bothered her the most though was not precisely the fact that her rival was so much better than her at whatever she was doing there, but rather that look in Ares' eyes, burning with passion and an infinite lust that no matter how hard she had tried she just couldn't arise inside him.

Her interior monologue and analysis were both shattered to pieces though the minute Xena arched her body forward as if every inch of her skin was longing for the War God's caress, as if she was dying to go to him, barely restraining the urge to do it, fighting with herself to stay put.

To Astarte it genuinely seemed that all the tricks that she later continued performing on that pole with the expert precision of a gymnast- such as those effortless swings during which she would lift both of her strong shapely legs above her head into a split using only her hands to hold herself up along with the twists, the twirls, and even the slides , they all had one single purpose: keeping her mind busy and carefully extinguishing the flames burning inside her heart.

The War God was indeed mesmerized, his every muscle tensed as if getting ready to rise from his seat and go and take her then and there, without the slightest concern if his special guest would mind or not.

Watching her, he could only wish she would climb his body like that, amazed at how she was currently making her way to the top of the pole, before finally deciding to spiral down in a circular motion.

Looking back at him, the Warrior Princess couldn't help noticing the unrestrained passion written all over his face, his hands clutching the chair in a vice grip.

Determined to make him explode with desire, Xena dropped to her knees on the cold, comforting marble floor, and stretching out like a lioness - in what she could bet Ares would qualify as an irresistible pose- swaying her hips with every move, she slowly made way towards her God.

By now, Ares' eyes were wide open, his pupils heavily dilated, while he continued to watch his Princess torture him in such a sweet way. His flushed face and that constant licking of his lips said more than words could ever say.

He had never seen anyone dance so exotically, or on a pole for that matter in all eternity.

And just when she was about to take things a little further, Xena heard another gasp coming from the Goddess's lips and, seeing that priceless look she had been expecting all night clearly painted on her visage, she knew she had accomplished her mission.

Practically all the rest of her moves were obviously performed only for the sheer pleasure of making Ares wanna climb up the walls in anticipation of what she had to offer him.

When she arrived at his feet, slowly rising from the ground to the beat of the music, grabbing both of her breast through the corset, she squeezed them lightly, practically offering herself to him, making sure to keep her eyes locked on his.

The War God couldn't remember the last time he had ever felt so aroused before, unable to tell just how much more teasing he could take from the beautiful creature before him.

Observing his reaction, Xena grinned cunningly and stood up slowly, starting a sensual slow belly dance routine, making sure to attune her every movement with the sound of the hypnotizing music, perfectly moving her hips to describe some wide, beautiful circles around her body. And while her hands and arms were gently caressing the air, doing an exquisite looking belly roll, arching her back in the process, Ares could swear that he had never seen a more attractive woman in his life.

Astarte on the other hand was beyond pissed. That tramp had somehow managed to make a fool of her, claiming she didn't know how to dance but yet moving so gracefully and at the same time so animalistic, that her beloved God couldn't take his eyes off her.

She had to do something to get his attention again. There was no way she was going to blow up her chance with him to a mere mortal. Therefore, she decided to turn the heat up a bit.

Lazily rising from the chair, Astarte walked behind Ares' , and did the first thing that came into her mind: she began caressing his chest, convinced that the softness of her touch would surely wake Ares up from the trance "his servant" had plunged him into.

To her much dismay though, the War God acted as if she wasn't even there, and that only aggravated the Goddess even more, making her resort to more radical actions, deciding to throw herself into his lap and kiss his neck frenziedly. Still, Ares didn't even bat an eyelash; as a matter of fact he seemed rather bored of his guest's antics.

Xena was smiling victoriously, I mean one didn't need an oracle to figure out just how overly jealous the Goddess was of the attention that Ares was gracing her rival with. Still stubbornly refusing to allow her steal that attention away from her., she started dancing over to Ares, making sure to keep his eyes immersed on her swaying hips, without rushing it either, but rather taking small calculating teasing steps. No need to make him think she was insecure.

When Xena finally reached the War God's side, Astarte stopped her administrations on him and looked at her with repulsion. That didn't seem make an impression on the nonchalant Warrior Princess, that, instead of rewarding her with the same type of prize glare, she just gave Ares a sexy look, before placing one hand on his face, caressing it gently, allowing her gaze to progressively fall from his eyes to his lips where it rested awhile as if hypnotized by what she knew they could offer.

Under it's spell, Ares' eyes closed slightly for a second before pushing Astarte out of his lap, straight onto the hard floor.

The Cannanite Goddess was flabbergasted. She couldn't believe it. Was Ares really serious about wanting to feel that mortal touch over hers? Still in shock and definitely incredulous about the ending of the whole situation, she backed up a little to watch Xena's following movements.

Waving her body seductively, the Warrior Princess was unstoppable. Placing both hands on Ares' shoulders, gave him a smirk, before she skillfully positioned herself between his opened legs and started dancing in between them.

Even for a god, that was too much. He couldn't resist- he reached out to touch her body, and Xena didn't stop him. She just covered his hands with hers, guiding him, letting him feel her hot skin.

Barely containing her rage, Astarte took a good look at Ares. This wasn't happening.

When she had danced , the God had barely gave her a smirk, watching her as if her performance would have been some type of interesting game, and that was about it..

On the other hand, when this useless Mortal started dancing for him, the Bastard acted as if he were in ecstasy. She couldn't stand the thought.

And she hated her even more when she noticed that, the moment the dark haired beauty crawled into his lap,straddling his hips and started grinding slowly against his crotch, he instantly groaned at the contact. As she kept on dancing on him, Xena finally put her hands behind his neck, temptingly bringing her lips within a inch to his, and, it was no surprise that, unable to resist her, Ares violently crashed his lips upon hers.

The kiss was harsh and demanding, and loosing herself in it's sweetness was the best way to show the Goddess who held in fact Ares' favor.

Before things got to become really interesting though, the very moment that pulling her even closer to him Ares began unlacing her corset, the Warrior Princess felt a sharp wave of pain traveling up and down her body with the speed of a lightening bolt, and before she even realized what was happening, she was sailing across the room. A mere second later she slammed into a wall and landed brutally, with a heavy thud,. The pain was surreal. She didn't even know that Astarte had blasted her with her godly powers.

As for Ares, he was in shock. That crazy Goddess had just blasted his Xena. Looking towards the opposite side of the room, he noticed that Xena was trying to lift from the floor, obviously in tremendous pain. He immediately stood up, his outraged stare seeking out Astarte.

"What is this nonsense Astarte?" he barked angrily "..How dare you attack Xena without cause?."

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_Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :) I want to thank all those that have reviewed, followed, and favorited my story ya'll are amazing it really does mean a lot to me. :D. _


	21. Kiss me and make it all better?

**Story Summary:** In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** Again Special thanks to my sweet editor, friend and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

_**Shout outs: **__ To my girl _PurpleStrawberry14 (Little Young Thang) , my lovely muse Xentrya (Hunney Bunney), Lady Death01 (My Chica), and FallenAngelXWP . Also want to give a shout-out to my new reviewers Buffyluvspike, Zarra Rous, and Carleys123. Thank you all so much for taking the time to review it always puts a smile on my face.

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"What is this nonsense Astarte?" he barked angrily "..How dare you attack Xena without cause?."

Still confused and her body shaking in agony, Xena didn't even hear the sound of her name. She looked liked she was on a totally different planet. Astarte's eyes flashed to her before replying.

"Why would you even bother to stick up for this...mortal? She is a nobody, just another pathetic love struck mortal. Yes, she looks...tolerable for her kind, but look at me Ares I'm every man and Gods' dream... I am desire and war...So what could possibly possess you to even want anything to do with this mortal slut?"

Hearing her talk about his sweet Princess like that, the God could barely suppress the wave of fury that washed over him at the sound of her words. His Xena was not a nobody, she was the finest warrior in all Greece and not only that she was the mother of his child and his Chosen. Yes Astarte was beautiful but for him, Xena was the most beautiful woman to ever walk on the face of the earth.

Casting her a long contemptuous gaze, he spitted out threateningly:

"Look Astarte, we may have had our fun but you are nothing compared to Xena. You call yourself desire yet a mere mortal out-staged you. You call her a slut, and yet you would allow any God/Goddess or man in your bed if they gave you the right attention. She is my Chosen, so you better think twice about hurting a hair on her head again."

"What? Your Chosen ? Are you telling me this is the Legendary Warrior Princess and Destroyer of Nations...She looks more like a common slut, she surely danced like one too."

Ares was beginning to loose his patience with this dumb Goddess.

"Shut up Astarte, Xena would make a finer Goddess of Warfare then you ever would; just because she is mortal it doesn't mean that she couldn't wipe the floor with you ... Besides that I enjoyed every tantalizing moment of watching her body move...If I didn't know you better I'd say that you're jealous."

Astarte knew she had upset Ares, so she pouted sweetly and looked at him with a sad face.

"Well, it was you the one who said she was just and X-priestess, I thought you said she wasn't the warrior that you used to talk about all the time."

The God knew it was probably best to tell her the truth.

"Look Astarte, the real reason I invited you here was to make Xena jealous, ok? There can never be an "you and I", for it has always been her."

The Goddess' eyes started to glow yellow.

"Are you telling me that you only used me in order to get your stupid bitch back? ..Oh no you don't Ares, for I will challenge her and give her back to you as a present after I slice her into little pieces."

Ares was getting fed up with this tramp, she already had crossed the line in attacking his Chosen. If she even thought about being able to lay a hand on Xena, she was dead wrong for he would have destroyed her before even getting to raise one finger.

"Touch her and die Astarte...I will kill you... .Plus, you know far to well that you can't defeat me. That goes for Xena too for that matter...I didn't choose her for nothing. She has amazing battle skills."

The Warrior Princess had heard the exchange between the two bickering immortals and she was well aware that she would have to fight the pain that she was feeling. She had never allowed Ares to fight her battles for her, and she was certainly not planning on starting that very moment. She had to get up and show this Bimbo who she was messing with.

Astarte displayed an evil grin on her face before replying:

"If your mortal is as good as you say she is, then let her face me., lover boy! ...Better yet lets make a wager! If I defeat your pathetic human you will be mine, and I will become your wife and the new Goddess of War... If she wins I swear to leave you alone, and she will be the new Canaanite Goddess of Warfare. How about it?"

The God of War looked at her as if she were a complete lunatic. Couldn't this desperate bimbo just take a hint and vanish already? Or did he actually have to draw her a picture to help her realize that he didn't want her?

He sneered at her in contempt...

"To Tartarus with your deal! Don't play me for a fool, Astarte! You want to take her on now because she is hurt. There's no way I'm gonna let you touch her. "

Finishing his sentence, he then pulled out his sword like he was ready for battle, but before he could even do anything, his Princess' voice could be heard through the air.

" I accept your deal, Goddess."

Hearing her speak, Ares couldn't believe his ears. Turning around to face her, he saw her standing only a few feet behind him ready for battle, an evil sparkle shining on the surface of her azure moons.

"What in the name of Zeus do you think you 're doing Xe?

She didn't say anything at first, it was damn obvious what she was doing, but , when Ares didn't break his gaze, insisting to receive an answer, she just rolled her eyes in exasperation, while still trying to ignore the pain.

"What's it look like... I'm about to kick this empty-headed Goddess' ass!"

Astarte grimaced hatefully:

"Yeah Ares, let your little play thing come out for the slaughter... I will make it fun, I promise."

The God was still watching Xena; his eyes were almost glued on her. He was clearly furious and his voice was an obvious indication.

"Like hell you will, you are injured and I don't plan on losing the mother of my child for her useless pride."

The instant he finished her sentence, just a few steps behind him, Astarte was gawking as if she couldn't get any air in her lungs.

"WHAT? Are you for real Ares? You actually gave this cheap, good for nothing slut your seed?! You've actually preferred her to be the mother of your child over me? Oh Ares, I swear it on my godhood, she's as good as dead!"

Before the God could even consider uttering anything in response though, the Warrior Princess decided to waste no more time with useless chit-chat:

"Well...I sure hope you're ready to embrace a mortal existence then, Astarte...And as a fair warning...when a mortal try not to frown too much...it will damage your skin-wrinkles and all..."

Astarte looked at Ares in shock:

"Did this Mortal actually dare to call me by my name?!"

The God simply stared at her as if she were stupid.

"I guess you'd better get used to it ...when you will be mortal everybody would skip the formalities..."

Xena laid her hand on Ares' back trying to calm him down, noticing that he was still glaring daggers at her rival, ready to turn her to dust before she opened her mouth again. Since he wasn't responding to her touch she decided to call him by his name.

"Ares"

As if waking up from a dream, the God turned around and faced his Princess.

He didn't look one bit happy with her.

"Why would you even consider accepting her challenge knowing that you are hurt?, Did you at least think about the possibility of losing, Xena? Huh? Did you? Gods damn it, woman, you can be so stubborn at times, you're driving me insane!...I can't even stand the idea of you gone...Matter of fact , would you want me to be stuck with this air brained moron for the end of eternity? Do you?"

Xena looked at him and smiled mildly:

"Are you seriously doubting my capabilities Ares? Do you really think that I'm not good enough to take on this...this..."

She suddenly stopped, looking over Ares' shoulder with disdain.

"It won't be long. I give you my word."

Ares looked at her, proud to see her so confident and determined. His face softened instantly.

"Your still pretty banged up though Xe."

She just smirked at him sexily.

"Well then... why don't you kiss me and make it all better?"

The God's eyes lit up at her statement.

"You know, you don't have to tell me twice Princess" he said before swooping down to claim her lips in a passionate kiss.

The minute their tongues entwined, she could feel the effects of his marvelous kiss, her whole body thrummed in power and all her pains faded into nothingness. She could also feel her clothing changing as well, sensing at the same time the weight of her sword on her back again.

Seconds later, she slowly broke the kiss to face the seething Goddess.

Astarte yelled at her in rage.

"I hope you enjoyed that kiss, because it will be your last!"

Xena looked at her mockingly .

"Oh you think so, huh?"

And the Warrior Princess was right about to pull out her sword ,ready to show this Goddess a thing or two when,Ares put his hand up giving her a signal to halt and then looked Astarte in the eye.

"Astarte this will be a fair fight no godly power, no tricks, just a fair fight."

The Goddess smiled at him sweetly before uttering in a dark voice.

"Don't worry beloved, I won't need to make use of my powers, this mortal stands no chance against me in the first place...Oh I can't wait to be your Goddess of War!"

Ares and Xena both rolled their eyes, Ares always did tend to pick the psychos. The Warrior Princess wasn't going to let her last comment slide though.

"Quit Dreaming and get ready to fight!"

"It's your funeral mortal!" Astarte said in a cheeky smile.

And so it started, with one of Xena's impressive somersaults. She landed in the middle of the Dinning Hall floor. She looked at Astarte and pulled out her sword, and thrust it in the air giving a loud battle cry. Her statement was clear as daylight

"_Bring it On!"_

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_Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :) I want to thank all those that have reviewed, followed, and Favorited my story y'all are amazing it really does mean a lot to me. :D. _


	22. Bring it On!

**Story Summary:** In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

_**Shout outs: **_To my lovely muse Xentrya, Writer Writing, Yuumany, and Carleys123. Thank you all so much for taking the time to review it.

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"_Bring it On!"_

It was all the invitation the Goddess needed in order to start doing speedy kart wheels, heading towards Xena, stopping within six foot of her. Magically, her sword appeared in her hand, and she charged the Warrior Princess head on. Xena didn't even bat an eyelash, of course. She just waited till she was close enough to deflect her sword. They began to battle, steel hitting steel.

Ares was watching on with great interest, he was relieved to see that Xena was better skilled with her sword then Astarte, making the Goddess lose a bit of her grip on it from the first three blows. Taking advantage of her opponent's weakness, Xena quickly hit her sword again, and then swiftly turned around, doing a round house, knocking the Goddess to the floor.

Cleaver as she was, the dark haired beauty decided to send the Goddess up the wall, aware that the more upset she was, the more clumsy she would be in her moves.

"Are you kidding me Ares? This is the Goddess of Warfare? Oh please, do you really expect me to waste my time with her? She isn't even worth my effort, a skilled mortal could give me a better fight then her!"she stated sourly and mockingly.

Astarte's burning stare fixed the Warrior Princess with such an outraged glare that Ares himself flinched imperceptibly seeing it. There was absolute fury glistening on the surface of her eyes, and when she got up and started screaming like a banshee, charging the Warrior Princess full force, his muscles tensed to the maximum. Unfortunately for her, despite the fact that the attack was much harder than the previous one, her moves were rather sloppy and forced.

Xena decided she would entertain her for a bit, so she acted as if Astarte had the advantage, allowing her to back her up a bit.

From the other side of the room, Ares was watching them warily. He didn't quite understand why Xena was faltering- she should have been able to take Astarte easily. He had fought her many times, much more harder then this and she had no problems facing him, and then it hit him. She had something planned.

As always, he was right, for, the minute Xena got close enough to the wall, she swung her sword harder, and kicked Astarte's knee with such force, that, had she been mortal, she would have certainly broken it.

The Goddess faltered and Xena jumped at the opportunity to back head her with tremendous strength, making her whimper in enviable agility, Xena turned around and ran up the wall, flipping over Astarte and landing behind her.

In less than a blink, she made it to the confused and in pain Goddess' side, placing the blade on the back of her neck as if she was going to behead her.

Seeing at she had the Goddess in a compromising position, she decided to reason with her.

"Give up! Don't put yourself through anymore additional shame."

Watching his Princess in action had made the God of War's eyes glistening with pride, seeing with how much reason and skillfulness she had subdued the pesky love sick Goddess making his heart pound crazily.

Now, he was just hoping that Astarte would admit defeat and get this show over with already, before things got completely out of hand. She was one of the main Goddesses of a foreign Pantheon after all, he didn't necessarily want Xena to make such type of enemies.

He decided to speak:

"Astarte, just give up already! We can pretend like none of this ever happened... If you continue, Xena has every right to your Godhood!"

Astarte growled lowly when she heard Ares' words, she knew that at that point, giving up was the wisest thing she could do, but her pride was too much in the way. …Just thinking how this mortal wench had bested her sickened her, she had never faced the end of anybody's blade , she started realizing that she should have probably spent more time studying the arts of War, instead of the one of seduction and desire.

Plus, that would have meant for her to throw away any chance of ever becoming Misses God of War. When this was over she thought, she would make sure that Ares taught her everything that he had taught this mortal.

Xena on the other hand was starting to lose her patience. She decided to press her blade firmer down on her neck to drive a point.

"Trust me Goddess, you don't want me getting impatient...And you certainly don't want to see me mad, take my word for it..."

Ignoring her rival's lines, the Goddess refused adamantly to admit defeat, and instead she tried to duck quickly, feeling in the process Xena's sharp sword slicing into her neck.

Jerking her neck away from the blade, Astarte maneuvered herself far enough from the Warrior Princess' blade. Luckily for her, Xena made no moves to try to slice her up in the process.

Turning around to face her again, she looked at Xena haughtily, as if she could really beat her this time around, only to see a wide, cocky smile on the lips of the God of War's protegee.

For some odd, unknown reason, Xena was grinning in satisfaction.

"You know Astarte, that was a really stupid move you pulled...You had such lovely hair too, it's a shame that you butchered it...You should have just given up...Well…guess there's not point in crying over spoiled milk." she said with a smirk.

Looking to the floor, the Goddess noticed in unspeakable horror that her beautiful long locks were scattered right about everywhere, and the shock almost made her sword fell from her grasp.

Looking at her lovely tresses scattered across the floor, Astarte could no longer control the rage building throughout her entire being. She couldn't care less about breaking the previously made promise about not to use her Godhood, she may have not be able to defeat her without powers but she was almost positive she could easily destroy this mortal with one tiny lightening bolt. It was all it took she was pretty convinced about it

And even if the rules changed, at least the mission was the same: she was going to tear the mortal wench into pieces and ultimately make her beg for death. However, first thing's first: she had to make sure that Ares wouldn't interfere with her plans.

Consequently, focusing all the power she could muster, she cleverly sent an incredibly strong wave of electricity in Ares' direction. Unaware about what she had in mind, the God didn't even have the time to react and was hit full force straight in the chest, literally flying till the other side of the room.

And if Astarte was smart about something, she certainly was when she had to choose her weapons: she hadn't used an ordinary blast-like the one she usually employed when turning to ashes the pesky mortals that had the uninspired idea to cross her in any way-but a more special one, that could leave any immortal temporary out of commission. Getting rid of the most important threat...she was not stupid at all...

Wile trying to to fight off the effects of the blow, still shaking his head after that terribly impact with one of the walls, Ares was vainly attempting to rise from the floor but it was almost impossible. He was still on, his knees. All that he could feel at the moment, besides utter confusion and rage, were the still fresh echoes of an unprecedented pain and agony , everything magnified a thousandfold by the desperate preoccupation of not letting his mind slip towards the corners of the blackness that had began enveloping him more and more.

He knew very well that allowing himself succumb to the darkness, meant even little protection for Xena and their child. Using what ever little bit of strength he had left , he tried to stand, but sadly his attempts were in vain. Unconsciousness decided to set in. He fell to the floor in a heap.

From the opposite side of the large room, the Warrior Princess was looking at him in total shock. She had never seen the God so weak in her life. She made a move towards his direction but stopped as the sound of Astarte's anguished voice reaching her ears:

"You'd better worry about yourself mortal trash,. You see, I have no intentions of destroying my future husband. Yes, I may punish him a bit for his idiotic betrayal but I have no desire of really finishing him off... On the other hand, I will enjoy hearing your deafening cries of pain while you beg me to destroy what will be left of your insignificant life..."

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_Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :) I want to thank all those that have reviewed, followed, and favorited my story ya'll are amazing it really does mean a lot to me. :D. _


	23. How's this for an answer?

**Story Summary**: In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks**: Again Special thanks to my sweet editor, friend, and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

_**Shout outs: **__ To my girl_PurpleStrawberry14 , my lovely muse Xentrya, MelodyPotterSnape, and Carleys123. Thank you all so much for taking the time to review it always puts a smile on my face.

**A/N: **I'm truely sorry for the delay everyone my computer had and accident and I was unable to retrieve my files. Thank God my sweet Xentrya had kept a backup of everything for me but I didn't think to ask till recently lol. Well everybody here is the next update hope you enjoy next chapter should be out soon.

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"You'd better worry about yourself mortal trash,. You see, I have no intentions of destroying my future husband. Yes, I may punish him a bit for his idiotic betrayal but I have no desire of really finishing him off... On the other hand, I will enjoy hearing your deafening cries of pain while you beg me to destroy what will be left of your insignificant life..."

Xena turned around to look the Canaanite Goddess in the eyes. She knew that she couldn't even think about at least wounding her without any divine intervention or magical weapons, let alone kill her.. However, she wasn't planning on showing any signs of weakness in front of the crazed Lunatic.

Thus, when she spoke, her tone was vibrating with indifference and self assurances as always.

"I don't know about that one Astarte, but I'd say that I'd be skating in Tartarus that day given the fact that you had to break the rules in order to at least have a fair chance to beat me...What ever happened to the whole "I won't need to make use of my powers, this mortal stands no chance against me in the first place?." routine? Gave it up so soon? " she said mockingly.

Astarte eyed the mortal in pure contempt and frustration. She decided to grace her with an answer though.

"Before I destroy you I guess I could humor you with a response" she replied casually, while taking a long look at her perfectly polished nails.

"I suppose I miscalculated the level of your skills. I didn't quite realize that Ares would waste his time training a Mortal Slut like you...But still, I haven't got the slightest intention of losing this fight to you, nor do I plan on missing the rare opportunity of becoming the Goddess of War...Ares and I will become an invincible team, we will proclaim ourselves the new King and Queen of Olympus!"

Xena just snorted at her response:

"Are all Canaanites Goddesses as stupid as you?...You've already forfeited this match, by all rights your godhood should be mine! Seeing as you went against the agreement using your powers when you had no right to...This can only prove how pathetic your really are!"

That seemed to be the end of the friendly dialogue though, cause, pointing her sword to Xena's chest, Astarte's enraged yell announced the beginning of the battle.

"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! , it's time you die Mortal!"

Sending a roaring hot pink blast of light in the Warrior Princess' direction, the Goddess started the attack. The skilled Chosen of War waited a few seconds before doing a somersault dodging the blast, making sure to have an irritatingly good laugh at Astarte's futile attempt, just to irk her the minute she made a perfect landing back on the floor.

Before she could even produce a smart, stingy line to go with that laughter , the crazed Goddess had sent 6 blasts of energy her way. Xena dodged them all effortlessly with 7 beautifully executed back flips. When she landed though, after her 7th back flip, she was almost in shock to see that somehow, she had gotten face to face with the Canaanite Goddess. Teleportation was after all a highly used godly attribute.

It was a matter of seconds until, with a superhuman strength, Astarte grabbed Xena by the throat with her right hand and hoisted her into the air, using her free hand to draw her sword and bring it up into the air, adamant about beheading her rival on the spot.

Reacting with the speed of light though, the Warrior Princess lifted her legs up and channeled all her strength into expertly kicking Astarte in the gut. The strike had it's desired effects of course and the Goddess was soon flying across the room, landing with a pretty ungraceful thud just steps away from the still unconscious War God.

Swiftly making her way to the fallen Goddess, she plunged her sword at the base of her neck. Astarte shrilled in displeasure

"Give up now Astarte, I don't give a damn about your Godhood... leave now before I find a way to cut you into little pieces."

Feeling a wave of energy coursing through her opponent's apparently weakened body, Xena tried to jump back, feeling that something was about to happen.

As the Goddess cried in exasperation, the dark haired beauty felt some kind of invisible shield throwing both her and her sword across the room, and way before she even realized what was going on, she was already sailing into a heavy pillar.

The minute she opened her eyes she saw that Astarte was already up and charging her . The bitch didn't like to waste time...

Looking around her, Xena couldn't help a loud curse when she noticed that her sword was lodged deep into the pillar she had mercilessly crashed into. There was no way in Tartarus she was able to get it out.

One more careful look around, and she ran towards the mantle of weapons and hurriedly grabbed a sword.

Astarte stopped a few feet from her , sneering:

"Here I was thinking you had gotten smart, and realized the futileness of your situation and decided to flee like the rat that you are. Just imagine my disappointment!"

Xena rolled her eyes and spoke in a coy voice:

"You are really dense aren't you?...Just so you know, I will never run from the lights of you."

With that being said, the brave Warrior Princess charged her foe, this time with an incomparable thirst and intention of showing that petty excuse for a Goddess what she was all about.

Astarte laughed at her in glee.

"Fool no matter how great your skills are, you will eventually tire out...And the second you lower your sword to draw your breath, I'll make sure to be just one step behind you, landing the finally blow!"

The fight was fierce because this time the Goddess was using all of her godly strength to back her up.

Xena was doing her best too, swinging her sword like no other mortal could and putting her full force into each blow, somehow equaling the balance. She dodged and parried each and every one of Astarte's blows, and if the Goddess had been mortal, she would have had this in the bag.

To her much dismay though, despite her continuous efforts, every blow, every cut and nick she placed on her opponent's immortal body healed immediately.

Killing her was out of the question, for Xena that little detail was crystal clear. And while her brain was already feverishly searching for the best solution possible, in between two more kicks and three curses, the Warrior Princess noticed a large heavy circular metal disk at the top of the ceiling, that was used to either to stop or let in sunlight or moonlight enter the room.

That was it! Pulling off her Chakram, she just did a few flips back...she needed the distance in order to have a better shot. Astarte was obviously confused, but when she saw her hit in her direction, a wide grin stretched on her face.

"Do you really think that toy of yours is really going to save you from me.?...Think twice Warrior Slut, for I'm a Goddess, that blade won't even harm me...But at least you are persistent I'll give you that...How about I make a deal with you?...How about you stay still like the little swine you are, and I promise solemnly I'll give you a quick death...that's more then you'll deserve. Is that generous or what?"

Xena eyed her venomously before answering, giving her a even more venomous remark:

"How's this for an answer?"

With that, she let her Chakram sail to the ceiling, watching attentively how it bounced progressively from one corner of the wall to the other straight in the right direction.

Astarte looked at Xena and smiled sweetly:

"Foolish Mortal, I was going to be so kind and kill you rapidly...spare you the torture and all...And yet, you tried to throw your toy at me...You seem to have failed noticing that I'm down here not on the ceiling! Could you be even more stupid than that? But , I guess you have an excuse though! Maybe you had way to many hits to the head!"

What the Goddess missed in fact was that Xena's chakram had indeed hit it's mark. .

Xena slowly stood up, wanting to keep the Goddess' attention on her before replying:

"I suppose that would have been a really bad calculation if I had intended to hit you...But as you can see Astarte I never miss!"

With that, the Warrior Princess' gorgeous moons looked up into the air, as if wanting to prove a point. Astarte followed her gaze right on time to see the heavy metal object falling fast above her head. She didn't even have time to move, she just attempted to cover her head and gave a blood curdling scream.

The disk landed with the heaviest boom and sunk into the ground, cracking the whole floor and some of the walls and pillars. Disaster was the perfect word to describe the view, dust and debris covering the entire room.

Inhaling deeply and contemplating the chaos, Xena suddenly remembered Ares, and with all the speed she could muster she rushed to his side. She found his body lying face down under a fallen table which she lifted with great effort , tossing it off him.

Cradling his head in her arms, gently rubbing his face, she hastily articulated in a loud voice:

"C'mon Ares wake up!"

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_Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :) I want to thank all those that have reviewed, followed, and favorited my story ya'll are amazing it really does mean a lot to me. :D. _


	24. You might have won this battle!

**Story Summary:** In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer**: No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.

_**A/N: **__Since It has been forever and a day since I updated I decided to post and extra chapter. I hope everybody is still enjoying the story. Oh and thanks again Xentrya aka Hunney Bunney you always come through for me :)._

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"C'mon Ares wake up!"

He didn't seem to respond though, he was still out of it, so she decided that a more aggressive move would do the trick.. She roughly smacked him across the face before yelling from the top of her lungs:

"Dammit Ares, wake your sorry ass up this instant."

That definitely had Ares' eyes slowly starting to open. Looking up he saw the most beautiful eyes in the world gazing at him lovingly. A small smile crossed his face. Then a thought came to him:

"Astarte..." he tried to sit, but he realized he was in a great deal of pain.

Xena pulled him back down and attempted to get him to relax.

"Don't worry. I have already taken care of her. She is either squashed or a few feet under ground." she said casually while looking towards the large hole in the floor..

The War God couldn't help arching an eyebrow as he saw the entire place in ruins. He could understand what she meant by "being squashed" , but still, when he looked back at Xena, his eyes were worried.

" That won't hold her for long, Princess ...She'll be out of there faster than you think , she probably just got knocked out but when she wakes up she will be as mad as hell and seeking your blood..."

A look of sadness crossed the War God's handsome features:

"Xe, I won't be able to protect you...I'm no better than a mortal at the moment...I can't heal you this time I don't even have the strength to summon a lightning bolt..."

The Warrior Princess didn't want Ares worrying about her, she could take care of herself just as she had always done.

"Don't worry about me Ares, I'll figure out some way do deal with her properly.

The God sighed in disappointment. As always, even when the situation looked hopeless, his Princess was acting brave. But she stood no chance in front of the Goddess, they both knew it.

Suddenly, a thought came to his mind.

"Xe, I want you to take my sword...It's power, combined with those lethal skills of yours could give you an upper hand... take it!"

Xena looked at him like he had gone crazy.

"No Ares, I don't want to become a Goddess."

Ares painfully lifted himself up , looking her dead in the eyes.

"Look Xe, I'm not asking for a full transformation, ok? I'm asking you to temporary take the damned blade, become the Goddess of War, just for a little while and show this tramp what fighting is all about... if you don't do it for me at least do it for Eve!"

Pulling out his sword from it's scabbard he hand it to her. Xena glanced at him for one more moment before reaching to grab it. She knew Ares was right of course, she could always could give it back to him.

Plus, it would have granted her the chance to really kick, the Lunatic's ass and humiliate her in the processes. With that thought in mind, she took the sword, and the instant she touched it she felt an indescribable wave of power radiating through her. All her cuts and nicks vanished without a trace.

Looking down at herself though , she surprisingly noticed that her clothes were still the same. She looked back up at Ares.

As if reading her mind he replied with a slight chuckle:

"Your clothes haven't changed because you haven't fully accepted the powers, and besides, the sword is on loan."

Xena rolled her eyes and she was about to retort, but she stopped the moment she felt Astarte's power fueling the buried body.

She just gave the War God her signature trademark look before replying:

"I have some unfinished business I need to take care of...But don't worry... I won't be long."

Before Ares got the chance to reply, Xena was already walking in the direction of the still buried Astarte, but hardly had she made it to the disk that the Goddess ethered from underneath it, holding a new sword in her hand. Her eyes were dark and large, searching for the person she intended to destroy. She spotted Xena within a blink but she didn't notice that all her cuts and scrapes had disappeared or the fact that her skin had a slightly unearthly glow to it, neither the fact that she was carrying Ares' sword.

She just eyed her evilly and stated:

"That was a real dirty trick you played there mortal... You should have run while I was down...You should have fled..."

At a second glance though, she couldn't help noticing that her adversary hadn't made any smart retorts and more than that, she was casually walking towards her. She could tell something was different about her but she just couldn't put her finger on it.

"You know... something looks different about you..."

The Warrior Princess just gave the Goddess a wicked smile before walking to stand right in front of her.

Seeing her reaction, Astarte was absolutely positive that the mortal must have gone insane given her guts to approach her so boldly , knowing she stood no chances of winning with her powers at her side. Xena just kept smiling like a Cheshire cat, knowing she had a big secret to tell.

"Hhmmm, Could it be this cool sword that I just got my hands on?" Xena couldn't help retorting while twisting the sword around with some experienced techniques.

Astarte's eyes lit up in fear as realization washed over her like a hurricane..

"Is that Ares' sword?"

The dark haired Warrior just gave her and all knowing smile.

"Bingo! Strike one for the sleazy Goddess...You really aren't that bright are you?...If I were you I would be hauling tail and running!...You were barely a match for me as a mortal...Now that I'm a Goddess I think I should just waste your cheating sorry ass to Ash!"

Astarte knew she was being foolish but she was silently hoping Xena wouldn't know how to control her new found power.

"How dare you steal my future husband's sword?...You'll pay for this thief! And guess what? You've only been immortal for less than 10 minutes...You wouldn't even know how to control the power...It takes years of training to become powerful like Ares and I."

Xena couldn't have helped her next smart mouthed retort even if she had wanted to.

"Future Husband huh? You see, that's kind of funny since your self proclaimed future husband is the one who insisted that I take his sword...He couldn't bear the thought of losing the mother to his heir or the thought of spending his life with you for the rest of eternity!"

Astarte looked over to the mortal Ares, with eyes full of rage. If looks could kill Ares might have been ash by now.

"Did you actually give your immortality to this slut ARES?!...You succumbed to mortality for this pathetic mortal?."

The God slowly stood up and tried to look as mocking as possible before saying:

"Well I kind of prefer my Princess over a crazed lunatic of a Goddess."

She looked at him in disbelief.

" I swear Ares, I'll make you pay for this...I will destroy your precious Chosen and then I think I will keep your sword and torture you in the worse ways imaginable...You will beg me to forgive you and marry you!"

Xena snorted at her before looking at Ares saying:

"Is she _Psychotic_ enough for you Ares?!"

Ares just smirked back at her, rolling his eyes.

The cunning Goddess decided to take her chance while Xena was focused on looking at Ares, and charged her. Much to her surprise, the Warrior Princess acted as if she didn't have a care in the world though; she had heard Astarte charging but decided to act indifferent and kept staring at Ares. As soon as her adversary was close enough though, she just side stepped her and brought Ares' sword viciously across the Goddess' back, making her slide face first to the floor.

Highly amused about the entire situation, Xena just watched the Goddess; futile attempts to pick herself up before articulating casually:

"You know, it's not nice to charge somebody while their head is turned. It's kinda cowardly don't you think?"

Astarte jumped up fast, she whirled around, and before she could even throw her sword in the air to charge again, Xena sent a lighting bolt straight to her hand, successfully breaking her sword into pieces.

From the sidelines, Ares finally behaving like his old self again , cheering as if he were watching some entertaining chariot race:.

""Oh, yeah... Who's my girl?! Who's my girl?! You are!"

The furious Goddess instantly sent a warning glare at Ares. He only sent a smirk her way. Xena decided she was ready to end this:

"Are you ready to fight, or what?"

Trying to control her rage, Astarte made a new sword appear in her hand, and with a flip, she was just a few meters away from Xena, adamant about slashing her as fast as she could.

When the fight started , Xena just smiled at her before dodging her first attack, skillfully parrying and dodging her every blow while making her falter back with every strike.

Watching them, Ares was literally biting his nails, still fearing that the Goddess might still have some ace up her sleeve, but he started to breathe regularly again the minute he noticed the dramatic difference in their fighting skills: Xena was a professional as a mortal, but as a Goddess she was totally invincible. It was easy to see she was toying with Astarte. Within minutes the Warrior Princess lost lost her smile, and replaced it

with a look of boredom.

"Seriously Astarte, you are going to have to do better then this or you are going to bore me to death."

The Goddess didn't reply, not wanting to break her focus, and just started swinging her blade wildly, attempting to cut Xena down, but she stood no chance cause her adversary was already backing her against a pillar. The instant she turned around to do a back kick, Astarte felt a shocking pain in her kidneys, cause, anticipating her move, the Warrior Princess reacted faster than her rival had predicted.

Xena's next move as she turned back to face her took her by surprise again, as she saw her own body used as a wall for the Warrior Princess' high somersault, being hit full force in her neck and face.

There was no place to fall than down, and as she hit the floor, Astarte's vision became cloudy. She knew right then and there she didn't stand a chance to an immortal Xena, and lifting her head to see her opponent pointing her sword at her chest just made her even madder. But there was no use...she was well aware of it now.

"Now Astarte, I think it's time for you to give up that useless Godhood of yours... Or should I just turn you to dust and be down with it?"

The Goddess knew she had been defeated, and seeing as her pride didn't allow her to admit defeat she settled for another option. She summoned her energy and ethered a safe distance across the room before saying:

"You might have won this battle_, _Xena_- _but I will defeat you next time..."

Xena started at her with an " Whatever, keep telling yourself that" type of look and rolled her eyes.

"Oh you think there's gonna be one?..."

Astarte was about to reply but the Warrior Princess was far form being over.

"Oh and Astarte, Come back to Greece and I will not hestitate to kill you where you stand. I will have some hinds blood waiting just for the occasion!" she said while making a dagger covered in hinds blood appear in her hand.

Astarte looked at the hinds blood dagger, and couldn't help the fear building inside her chest

"Unlike you, I don't break my promises!" Xena said in a icy cold voice.

The Goddess disappeared in the ether before she could say anything smart, and make her go through with her dreaded promise. Xena just watched her vanish , a big grin painted on her face.

Ares had watched the whole battle with intrigue, a few things had him puzzled. He walked over to Xena with great effort, and tried to suppress the feelings of pain. Xena turned to Ares seeing him struggling with the pain she hurriedly went to his side.

"Here Ares, I do believe I owe you this back..."

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_Reviews and Suggestions are Highly appreciated :) I want to thank all those that have reviewed, followed, and favorited my story y'all are amazing it really does mean a lot to me. :D. _


	25. I can stand the heat

**Story Summary:** In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** As always a Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. Thanks for your continued support and not giving up on me, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and hopefully continue to do for me :D.

_**Shout outs: **__ To _my little young thang PurpleStrawberry, my lovely muse Xentya, Zandrel and Naku12. Thank you all so much for taking the time to review it.

**A/N:** Sorry for the delay I was without my laptap, and honestly I think I've gotten lazy lol.

_Seeing As today is New Years I want to wish everyone a Blessed and Happy New Years 2013. My New Years Present To Ya'll A Update :D_

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"Here Ares, I do believe I owe you this back..."

Ares attempting a devilish smile.

"Tired of being a Goddess already, I thought you would have liked the power."

Xena gave a heavy sigh:

"If I wanted power Ares, I would have taken that bimbo's power already. Besides I'm not ready for immortality quite yet..."

Ares didn't miss the underline meaning of her words either.

"So, you have thought about becoming my Goddess afterall then...Well that answers one of my questions about why you didn't take her Godhood"

Xena did a show of rolling her eyes before thrusting his sword back into into his hands. Ares was relieved to feel the surge of power surging back through his body. He felt all his injuried being healed, he was back to his old former Glory. He looked down at his beloved Xena:

"I still don't see how you can enjoy being mortal Xe, it hurts to much."

Xena gave him a slight smile before saying.

"Well Ares, I was born mortal and pain is a part of mortals lives... It's lets us know we are alive."

_Ares rolled his eyes he would never understand how she loved her percious mortality, then and important thought occured to him._

_"I have a question for you where did you get that dagger of hinds blood."_

_Xena smiled at him and made a show of expertly flipping it in her hands, making Ares a little nervous._

_"Oh this, are you scared I might use it on you?"_

_Ares didn't want to reply, who knows what she would do with the day she has had. She might be tempted to stab him right through the heart._

_Xena looked at him and seen the worry sketched across his face._

_"Don't worry Ares, this isn't Hinds blood its just blood from some random animal. I just imagined having a blade with blood on it, that's all."_

_Ares gave a clear sigh of relief:_

_"You are a clever minx."_

_He looked over the use to be dinning room, and raised his hand to restore it back to it's former glory. Also making sure to put Xena prized sword back in it's rightful place._

_"You sure do know how to ruin a party, don't you?" Ares smirked_

_Xena gave Ares a sexy smirk:_

_"It's not my fault she couldnt handle the competiton or the heat...You know what they say Ares...if you can't stand the heat__... _then maybe you should_get the hell out__ of __my kitchen_!"

_Those words mad Ares blood boil with passion, his eyes hungirly looked her over and a devilous smile crossed that beautiful face, he walked to her and made the dagger disappear out of her hand. He was not about to admit he wasn't taking any chances where Xena was concerned._

_"Believe me Princess, I can stand the heat...I would greatly enjoy being in your kitchen right now!" _

_Seeing as he wasn't receiving any positive feedback from his remark he quickly trailed off._

"So, that was interesting!"

Xena gave him her famous " don't test me" look then a feeling of relief crossed her face.

"I'm just glad it's over...I noticed that you told Astarte that I was your chosen back there... So I guess I'm back in your good graces after all huh?"

Ares just gazed at her sheepishly and spoke in a rather meek voice:

"If it makes you feel any better Xe, I'm over the whole Amphipolis incident. You're forgiven."

The next thing the War God saw, was Xena's lip turned into a snarl and before he knew it, she punched him straight in the face, and walked away.

" That's for the whole Astarte thing…..I should go take a bath now, I have those Cannanite bitch's germs all over me"

"_Well… that went well... I see she's back to her old regular demanding Warrior Princess self. I should have known it wouldn't last forever…. it was fun while it lasted though""_ Ares thought with a sigh.

Holding his hand out to Xena,they vanished into the ether to Ares's bathroom, an

amazing room, just like the rest of the Halls of War, with a large hot springs right in the center of it that instantly captivated the Warrior Princess' attention.

For a second there she totally forgot that the God was in the room, stripping down without the slightest discomfort and dived in. Ares was just left standing there, a perplexed expression on his face, staring in awe at the one that despite her mortal origins had the body of a Goddess.

One long minute later, wondering why Xena hadn't surfaced yet, he made his way to the spring, and, reaching the edge, he bent over and peered in. He didn't manage to see her. He was getting worried.

"Xe... Xe, are you alright?."

"Xe I hope you are not messing with me."

And right when he was about to jump in after her, Xena came up pulling him in the water fully clothed before he could do anything.

As he touched the bottom of the spring he almost panicked, this idea of water surrounding him everywhere making him loose control faster than anything,

when a thought finally crossed his head:

"_What am I panicking about, it's not like I need to breathe or anything?!" _

His next thought was on Xena_ "I swear I'm going to get that little minx."_

Swimming to the top he began looking for Xena when he heard her giggling behind him. He slowly turned towards her and was awarded of course with a splash of hot water all over his face.

"So….. my little Princess wants to play, huh? , well, let me tell you doll, I invented the art of playing rough!"

His phrase was rudely interrupted by the Warrior Princess' eagerness to dunk him in the water again, and when he finally reached the surface seconds later, Xena was laughing so hard that he found it contagious. He just started laughing too, bemused by the whole situation, still whipping the water from his eyes.

"I'm sorry Ares, I just couldn't help my self .No more tricks, I promise"

She held out her hand.

"Truce"

Ares eyed Xena's hand suspiciously, swam closer to her, and reached out to grab it. By the time the Warrior managed to notice the mischief flashing on the surface of his chocolate moons, , it was too late…Ares had picked her up and threw her straight in the middle of the springs. There was nothing left to do for her except screaming and flapping her arms like she was flying. Seconds later, she was smashing into the water with a loud noise.

When she came back up she was spurting out water and eyeing Ares evily:

"You said we had a truce, why in the world did you throw me in?!"

Ares just laughed at his upset Princess.

"I don't remember saying **truce**, besides you pulled me in clothes and all."

Displeased, Xena just huffed and swam closer to him, and as the distance between them shortened, she finally noticed that the God was naked. Despite herself, she couldn't stop a playful smile from teasing the corners of her lips, and , no matter how hard she tried, her eyes adamantly refused to leave that perfectly defined chest of his the she was now carefully studying, lips parted and an eyebrow arched invitingly.

Slowly reaching out a hand, reluctant whether to actually touch him or not, the Warrior Princess' pulse began racing as she felt an indescribable wave of lust flow through her, and she hardly missed the moment Ares had pulled her closer to him, being now just inches apart. His blazing skin- so close to her , made her shiver in no time.

Lifting her gaze up to meet his, she didn't fail seeing again that same predatory lust, she had seen earlier, and though she couldn't tell what had actually caused it,the next thing she knew was that his tongue was parting her lips, almost violently, frantically searching for her own, giving her the maddingly pleasant sensation that she was burning hot with fever from head to toe.

She could feel her heart pounding right next ho his own so hard as if it threatened to jump out and move to his chest, and right then she just knew that she didn't him want to stop whatever he was planning on doing to her. All she could think about was how much she wanted him inside her, wanted to be filled by him, and that image alone could drive her wild.

The loud moan that escaped her lips straight into his mouth let him know exactly what her most hidden desires were, so that the irresistible God soon abandoned her lips, starting instead to place a long wet trail of feather light kisses along her collar bone and further down to her breasts, bringing her closer and closer to ecstasy.

By the time he began licking her nipples, sucking and biting gently, teasing her to the limit of impossible, she was completely out of control, and surprising even herself, she didn't even realize what she said till she said it.

"Please Ares, I need you."

Hearing her, the God's breath literally got caught in his throat- His Princess begging for him? That was like his lifelong fantasy.

"What do you want my Princess? What do you need?" he asked in a husky voice.

Looking deep in his eyes, Xena found out that she couldn't bring herself to deny it. Not anymore.

"I want you ….I need you…."

Unable to hold himself back anymore he claimed her mouth again, putting so much he passion into this kiss that when they finally parted, the Warrior Princess was breathless.

Suddenly a loud feminine voice could be heard.

"Ahem!"

Still so caught up in the moment, Xena's brain barely registered that they had company, and, in no time, she was straddling his waist in the water, making him groan in frustration, knowing that they would have to stop as soon as posible, as he already began detecting his sister's presence in the room.

He tried to calm his nerves, hating to interrupt such an arousing moment for anyone, let alone his ditzy sister. .

"Xe, you know I want this more than anything but we have company."

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_Reviews are Highly appreciated :) I want to thank all those that have reviewed, followed, and favorited my story ya'll are amazing it really does mean a lot to me. :D. _


	26. Let's get this show on the road

Story Summary: In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

Copyright Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

Special Thanks: As always a Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. Thanks for your continued support and not giving up on me, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and hopefully continue to do for me :D.

_**Shout outs: **__ To _my little young thang PurpleStrawberry, my lovely muse Xentya, Zandrel, Tyshay92, XenaGriffen and Skirenknight. Thank you all so much for taking the time to review it.

**A/N: I realized that I posted the wrong version of this chapter and I wanted to repost the correct version ****. This version is so much better in my opinion; this is the wonderful work of my dearest muse Xenatrya.**

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"Xe, you know I want this more than anything but we have company."

Without even the slightest intention to stop, the dark haired beauty just kept kissing his neck, expertly nibbling on his earlobe, articulating almost absently an : "Tell them to go away." in between kisses, when she suddenly heard an all to familiar baby laugh.

Turning around faster than lightening she saw Aprhodite shielding a laughing Eve's eyes. Xena looked back to Ares with and angry scowl on her face.

"Why didn't you tell me that we had and audience?"

Ares grinned at her before saying:

"I tried to tell you but you kinda jumped on me, and I ..."

He trailed off. Xena just rolled her eyes; Ares looked back at the Love Goddess with a cold face.

"Dite, this better be important or..."

He dropped the phrase though when he noticed the look in Aphrodite's eyes. Something was seriously wrong.

Without warning he and Xena reappeared back on the bathroom floor, fully dressed. The Warrior Princess knew that it sure had to be important, for Ares to dress them in such a hurry. .

"Dite, what's wrong?"

The Goddess looked down instantly. Her her regular, vibrant smile was not present.

"Athena has put a bounty on you and Eve, she has declared that ya'll both must be put to death."

Xena was about to reply but Ares beat her to it.

"Like hell Athena is going to touch my daughter or Xena. I'll slice her to pieces before that happened, I swear it on the river Styx…."

Xena casted him a brief glance, and then a longer one in Eve's direction. She knew this was all her fault.

"We have to fix this; I won't let anything happen to Evie for my stupidity."

Ares looked her in the eyes. A second was all it took for him to realize just how much guilt and remorse she was hiding behind the shades of those blue moons words.

Cupping her chin, he said:

"I know Xe,, but I promise I won't let anything happen to neither of you. They're not taking you from me….I'd blast the entire Olympus if that's what it takes to prevent it.

"We have to finish this together Xe; it's time for the other Gods/Goddess to know who Eve's father is. Besides, I don't think they are stupid enough to mess with two angry Gods, and an overly protective Warrior Princess." Dite added grinning cattishly.

That gave Xena all the extra confidence she needed – she was who she was, that much of the story was true, and she had every intention of showing them what she was made of.

"_If they don't believe us, we'll just have to make them believe." _she silently told herself.

"Before we go Princess, I want you to do something for me….. I know you are not ready to become immortal yet, but I want you to share my power. When we get there, I want you to show them who is my Enyo, my Goddess of War."

Hearing his plea, Xena just eyed him warily for a few moments. She didn't want him weakened on her behalf. Plus, him giving up on half of his power could prove to be lethal for the three of them if something went wrong.

As if knowing exactly what his Princess was thinking, he quickly answered, on the most reassuring tone possible.

"Don't worry Princess; I'm the strongest God on Olympus. You won't take my power away from me, you will only increase it. As my Chosen you have always increased my power, but as my Enyo you make me almost invincible."

He then leaned down slowly and kissed her , and, it only took one brush of his lips to feel an incredible surge of power go through her. She felt absolutely indestructible.

As if instinctively, she looked down at herself and to her grand surprise, she came to the awareness that she was dressed every part as the Goddess of War. She was wearing a sexy, long leather dress with long slits that made it easy for her to do her normal moves and showed off her long legs. It had a black and red scheme-Ares' favorite.

Aphrodite looked at her in awe- Xena needed to see herself.

"You should see yourself in the mirror, warrior babe you look amazing" Aphrodite couldn't help exclaiming, giggling softly, and magically making a huge mirror appear in front of her future sister in law.

What Xena saw shocked her. Everything about her seemed more radiant and more beautiful. Her hair was done up neatly with a simple, beautiful silver tiara sitting on her head, incrusted with red rubies. She was even wearing earrings- something that she normally hated from the bottom of her heart, but something looked very appealing about this pair : it resembled strikingly to the one that Ares was wearing. To top it all, around her neck, there was an amazing necklace, to match.

The one part she loved the most though, was seeing two crisscrossed samurai swords placed where her normal sword had been. That was like the cherry on top of the cake. They were both beautiful she noticed, and they had red rubies on them too, even her chackram had them now. An outstanding change! As much as she tried, the Warrior Princess really couldn't get over her new appearance.

Turning her head slightly, she looked up at Ares and it was literally impossible for her to stop a warm smile from teasing her lips when she noticed that sparkle in the War God's eyes, love and admiration radiating from their shining surface.

"You are beauty incarnated, my Enyo."

Xena's smile stretched even more, he was always a gentleman when it came to complimenting a woman.

The next thing she wanted was to test her new powers of course, so, throwing a red lightening bolt at the bathroom doors and blow them up really seamed like the best solution at the time.. The doors turned to dust instead, and, Ares starting to grumble about the finely adorned items that she had just uselessly wasted was like the funniest thing on the planet, and, as Aphrodite just couldn't stop laughing looking at his displeased expression, Xena just waved her hand in a lame attempt to fix them back - or that's what she tried to do anyway cause the result was lousy, only managing to replicate some weird looking barn doors…..That only made the Love Goddess laugh even harder and the War God to shake his head in disapproval.

Xena simply smirked and shrugged her shoulders.

"Not bad for a beginner" Aphrodite broke out wiping out her tears.

After fixing her mess, Ares just wrapped his hands around her waist in the most loving manner possible. In the end, he couldn't care less about some stupid bathroom doors, and as one hand began roaming up and down his love's back, the other began caressing her hair, and in no time he was claiming her mouth again, in what grew to be such a passionate kiss that Aphrodite couldn't help sighing deeply, the most daydreaming expression imaginable painted on her pretty visage.

"Love…so beautiful…Well, I'm sorry to ruin the love fest but ya'll can play kissy face after we clear all this up."

Ares broke the kiss and spoke to Xena in a husky voice.

"We could wait say… 10 more minutes?"

Xena looked back at him bemusedly, shaking her head.

"No Ares, Dite is right we need to go get this over with, you know…."

The War God pouted playfully, bringing into use his regularly unbeatable "puppy eyes "card which Xena could have bet he was about to use. And despite the fact that she declined his offer, she decided to cheer him up nontheless, at least a little bit:

"Besides… what I'm planning to do to you is very likely going to take days not minutes, and, if you promise to be a good War God and behave, I might just let you have your wicked way with me."

Ares smiled in excitement at the idea of what she had planned for them later.

"Fine….let's get this show on the road. But first I think it's best if I'm the one holding Eve."

Reaching for Eve, he noticed that she was wearing a pink outfit just like his ditsy sister was, so he rolled his eyes….

"Seriously Sis, don't you like anything besides pink?! Your lucky my Evie looks good in anything, but still, just this once, it would be better if she matched her mommy and daddy."

Dite smiled brightly. She knew Ares had already forgiven her.

After placing Eve in his arms, the God made sure to change both of their clothes, adding a red scheme into all that black mix to match Xena's.

Eve was wearing a cute little red and black princess dress, with a mini tiara to match her mother's, giggling up at her daddy and reaching for his hand. Ares already knew he had fallen in love with his daughter, and he would give her anything she could ever ask for.

"Daddy missed you to sweetheart."

Ares looked to Xena and Aphrodite. He was obviously anxious to get this over with

"Let's hurry up and get this done. Daddy's got a hot date with mommy tonight!"

Seconds later, they all appeared in the main Halls of Olympus, and, instead of Ares's regular blue flash, they appeared in an intense red one. Everyone turned around to look at them in shock of course. Athena stood up from her throne instantly. She couldn't believe her eyes.

"What is the meaning of this?, Why is that whore dressed like your Enyo?"

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_Reviews are Highly appreciated :) I want to thank all those that have reviewed, followed, and favorited my story ya'll are amazing it really does mean a lot to me. :D. _


	27. The Princess of War's father

**Story Summary:** In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** As always a Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. Thanks for your continued support and not giving up on me, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and hopefully continue to do for me :D.

**A/N:** I'm really sorry about not doing personal shout-outs this time around. I'm rather kind of busy working on two research papers for College; however, I just want everybody to know I appreciate all the reviews, favorites, and follows.

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"What is the meaning of this?, Why is that whore dressed like your Enyo?"

Ares snarled at her comment, ready to blast her with a fire ball or something. He tried to calm down though, thinking that pissing her off with his following statemnet could work much better than simply sending her to Tartarus, jus like that.

Taking a deep breath, he simply yelled loud at Athena so that all of Olympus would hear.

"Watch your mouth Athena! You will not disrespect my Enyo in any way. She is my future wife and the mother of my heir."

Casting Aphrodite a shippery gaze, Xena couldn't help feeling prouf of just how territorial Ares had gotten, standing up to Athena like that. Suddenly, his line came back echoing through her head again :_"Wait! When did I agree to become his wife?"_

Ares continued on with his rant to Athena furiously.

"Last time I checked Xena was still my Chosen, Have you forgotten Athena that no other God/Goddess has the right to hurt or kill another one's Chosen?"

Athena looked to Ares and sneered.

"Please Ares, Xena has not been your chosen in years! When is the last time she led your armies, if I recall correctly she sabotages every plan you have!" she spitted venomously.

"Stop thinking with your codpiece Brother, Xena doesn't give a damn about you! She is only using you to save that BRAT of hers!" Trying to impress, even her voice softened a bit. "Is Xena really worth going against your family for?"

She soon turned to Aphrodite wondering the same thing.

"I know we don't agree on many things sister, but why in Zeus' name would you side with Ares and his beloved Xena over your family?."

The Love Goddess was infuriated. Athena had always had a lot of nerve when it came to intruding into other people's lives. She glared at her saying:.

"You know nothing Athena!...What Xena and Ares feel for one another is real; if Ares hadn't cared about Xena he would have destroyed her years ago... Even though Xena has a tough time showing her feelings, she loves Ar and he loves her.

Face it Athena, you've always hated Xena because you were always aware that if Ares choose someone as his Enyo you would no longer be the Goddess of Warfare."

All the other Gods/Goddess were looking in shock- had the Ditzy blonde Aphrodite actually stood up to Athena? Even the mighty Goddess was looking at Dite with her mouth wide open. And she couldn't even suspect that Aphrodite wasn't at least half done yet.

"Oh and Athena….. You asked me why I sided with Ares and Xena over my own family. Well the answer is that Ares and Xena are my family, and Eve is my niece and I refuse to let you harm an innocent child. And before you ask, what makes me so sure Ares is the father... Let me tell you, I erased Ares' memories of the night Eve was conceived upon Xena's request."

Athena, who by that time thought she had heard them all, was just staring at all three of them, laughing like some crazed maniac. After her laughs died down she replied looking at the Warrior Princess.

"Oh this is rich Xena! You've not only managed to turn Ares against us with your deceit, but now, you got poor little air-headed Aphrodite believing your lies too. So…. I can't help wondering… how did you convince them both? Ares, I get it…as I said he's always thinking with his cock when it comes to you…..but Dite? Seriously Xena, I thought you were more honorable! Tricking Ares into believing he is the father to your Bastard Child…that's low…even for you!" she shouted snidely.

It all it took for the War God's face to turn in a deep shade of red, his eyes growing darker and darker again.

His following words made Olympus shake in his fury.

"You shut the hell up Athena...or I swear it to Styx I'll turn you to smithereens!

He even started stepping towards her in a very menacing way, till Xena put her hand in front of him, stopping him dead in his tracks.

He turned to her, and she shifted her hand on his shoulder to calm him down. Then she gave him one of her trademark Warrior Princess smiles.

"Let me handle Athena, don't worry I won't hurt her to bad- I'm just planning on knocking some reason into her." she said with a devilish smirk on her face.

Ares nodded.

By the time she turned to the Goddess of Wisdom, her face had already straightened back to her normal indifference.

"I hope you really didn't think I was going to stand back idly while Ares fought my battles did you? ... As I see it Athena, given that I was a match for you as a human without all the godly powers and other crap of fireworks, what do you think it might happen now that I have the powers of War at my disposal?" Noticing she had Athena's full undivided attention she continued.

"Now Athena, you did hold my respect in the past that's true, but that doesn't mean that I'll just, not stand around doing nothing while you insult myself, my child, her father, or Eve's favorite Aunt! You say Ares is not the father; well the proof is in the pudding. Come on, touch her….See if she bares his imprint or not. You're a Goddess; you should be able to tell…..."

Athena just snorted with a look of disbelief on her face.

"Fine Xena, that wouldn't be a problem…."

Xena turned towards Ares giving him a nod, Ares walked closer to the other Gods/Goddess. He moved Eve closer to Athena and allowed her sister to touch his daughter's forehead with the right head while the left was on his…

The expression on the Goddess of Wisdom's face was of absolute shock of course… She just couldn't believe it… it seamed that the child was indeed her brother's.

"What kind of magic is this?! How did you manage to fake the imprint on her aura you worthless slut?"

Ares instantly directed a fire ball towards his sister, adamant about toasting her.

"I've warned you Sis'!" he hissed through clenched teeth. "Talk like that one more time about her, and I swear it on Chronos' bones, I won't miss again!"

"Well Ares since this is your child?" she stated incredulously "Why don't we have the Fates to come here and see if they back up your story or not"

Ares and Xena both looked at each other with a smile on their faces and replied together.

"Let's!"

Athena could only sneer at them she then yelled in a loud voice, calling upon the Fates.

"Here me Fates! We summon you for your wisdom and guide...Come to us and bless us with your presence!"

As soon as she ended her plea, the candle lights began blinking in the room, and the Fates appeared in a shower of black. They didn't look happy about being summoned.

They glanced briefly around the room, acknowledging the other Gods and Goddesses and then to Athena and said in a grave, authoritative voice:

.

"Why have you summoned us Goddess of Wisdom and Weaving?"

Athena looked at them as if they had lost their marbles before retorting indignantly:

"I'm also the Goddess of Warfare!... Have you by any chance forgotten that little detail?"

The three ladies stared at her indifferently and answered on a leveled voice:

"No Athena, as you well know it is part of our duties to never forget and to know everything. But you are also aware that you are no longer the Goddess of Warfare...The God of War has chosen his Enyo thus making her the new Goddess of War and Warfare. She is meant to bring balance to War. With his Enyo by his side the God of War is stronger then Zeus and Hera combined, he will be the new King of the Gods!"

Everyone in the room was shocked; Athena knew this had to be some king of sick joke. She had to find a way to kill Xena and her brat and hopefully when Ares found out Xena's brat wasn't his he would destroy her.

"That's not possible! I ask you to tell us who is the father to Xena's child?"

"The Princess of War's father is none other then the God of War" the Fates declared without the slightest hesitation.

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_Reviews are Highly appreciated :) I want to thank all those that have reviewed, followed, and favorited my story ya'll are amazing it really does mean a lot to me. :D. _


	28. I'd rather die in your arms

Story Summary: In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

Copyright Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

Special Thanks: As always a Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. Thanks for your continued support and not giving up on me, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and hopefully continue to do for me :D.

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"The Princess of War's father is none other then the God of War" the Fates declared without the slightest hesitation.

The Olympians were puzzled.. Loud gasps could be heard throughout the large throne room…All eyes were on the fuming Goddess of Wisdom….They could all predict what was about to happen.

For Athena, one might say that was the last drop, for, the following second she concentrated all her power into throwing a power orb at Ares and Eve.

The War God who was still looking at the Fates , didn't even realize that the power orb was coming his way. Xena felt the surge of energy go through the room and saw it heading straight towards him and Eve, right in the nick of time.

It took less than a blink for the Warrior Princess to literally leap into action, jumping right in front of Ares, and creating an energy shield meant to protect them all from the raging attack.

It also took less than a blink for everybody to turn around and look in wonder at what was going on. After having succeeded to defend her new family Xena's gaze began fixing again the Goddess of Wisdom's now totally surprised face, and, as Athena's eyes were starting glowing red, the Warrior Princess were gradually turning pitch black. She was beyond pissed. She was fuming.

At least for Ares, there was no surprise when an intense red lightening emerged -

seemingly from out of nowhere, surrounding her body like a cobweb just to progressively turn into a red glowing ball that became more and more concentrated until it reached her palm, growing stronger and stronger in intensity by each passing second.

There wasn't one single soul in that room that hadn't felt her anger, and consequently backed up in fear When she parted her lips to speak, the Warrior Princess' voice seemed to belong to some other entity, sounding almost…..demonic.

"You've threatened my family for the last time Athena, just know you have signed your own death wish!...All this could have been prevented."

As she extended her hand determined to blast Athena to pieces, a thought came to her mind though, so she decided delaying that final shot for just a little bit longer, enough for her to let her in what she considered to be like very important details.

"Oh and Athena… before you die I want you to know that I'll make a really good Goddess of War and Wisdom…..you can take the Weaving part with you straight to Tartarus though….." She said before letting the giant red orb loose.

Despite the fact that she tried to catch it, her moves weren't fast enough, so, in no time Athena was reduced to a pile of ash without even getting the time to let a scream out of her the awareness that these were her last seconds on earth.

The giant orb only destroyed Athena and nothing else in the room; it was just left standing there after Athena was rendered to a pile of dust. Xena waved her hand and the giant orb disappeared, she started floating back to the ground.

As soon as Athena was no longer a threat, Ares walked to his Princess to see if she was okay. Her face was still a mask of rage and her eyes were still black. Reading the expression on her face, the God himself stepped back for a second fearing for his daughter. He had to figure out how to bring Xena back out of her bloodlust state, aware of how intoxicating it could be for her soul and moreover how dangerous it was for everybody else in the room, Aphrodite and his Evie included.

Looking down at his daughter he saw her wiggling in his arms, trying to reach out for his mother. Part of him knew that Xena could never have hurt Eve, but on the other hand, he wasn't quite ready to take that chance, not when her eyes looked still darkened and lost in that endless sea of violence and revenge, no sign of recognition on her face when their gazes met..

He then called to Aphrodite.

"Aphrodite, I need you to hold Evie for me for a bit?"

The Love Goddess looked at Ares as if he had grown two heads.

"Ar, What are you doing? Xe is still in full blown blood lust mode...Don't do anything stupid big bro, I mean you saw what she just did to Athena! Don't leave my niece here fatherless, will you?" Aphrodite exclaimed in a panicked voice.

All the Gods in the room were silent. Not one single sound was coming from their mouths.

"What are you saying Sis? What do you want me to do? Leave her like this? Do you have any idea how damaging this dark energy is for her aura? Plus, I'm not going to risk my daughter in the process."

He then paused looking back at the beautiful Warrior Princess. She was just standing there, staring at him with the strangest expression on her face ever, without seeming to recognize any of them, her mind wondering in some faraway land.

"She is my Enyo, ok? I have to do something to bring her back. If something goes wrong Dite, I'm trusting you to keep Eve safe for me."

Understanding that there was nothing left to do, Aphrodite just gave her brother a sad look, and nodded imperceptibly while taking Eve from him and backing several feet away from the two.

The War God inhaled deeply and, with a determined face he walked closer to Xena.

He hadn't precisely let it show but the thought of bloodlust and darkness taking a permanent hold on his Princess given her previously mortal nature and her lack of experience was scaring him to death.

He was basically praying to any superior force existent that could hear him then and there that he could actually do something to bring his beautiful Enyo back, before her body were destroyed under the devastating pressure of the essence of War, or worse, before her mind were engulfed into the depths of oblivion, until the point of no return.

Letting out a heavy sigh, on a low, broken voice, Ares called to Xena, desperately wanting to touch her visage but without actually being able to, fearing another incontrollable outburst like the one before…

"Please Xe, I know that you are in there and I need you to hear me. I want you to know how much I need you, not only do I need you but Eve needs you too. You are my Enyo, my Love, the Queen of my heart just thinking about a life without you is unbearable."

Please Sweetheart, just find a way to come back to me…..I can't do any of this without you my love."

Pausing for a minute he looked deep into her dark moons, still seeing no sign of recognition. As tears began forming in his own eyes, the God suddenly felt a sense of hopelessness washing cruelly over him.

" ..You know...I wasn't lying to you when I said that "I'd rather die in your arms than live without you in mine"…I still feel the same…so you can as well kill me than having to live every day of my immortal life without you by my side…"

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_Reviews are Highly appreciated :) I want to thank all those that have reviewed, followed, and favorited my story y'all are amazing it really does mean a lot to me. :D. _


	29. Give Me So Credit Ok?

**Story Summary:** In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.

**Copyright Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.

**Special Thanks:** As always a Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. Thanks for your continued support and not giving up on me, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and hopefully continue to do for me :D.

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" ..You know...I wasn't lying to you when I said that "I'd rather die in your arms than live without you in mine"…I still feel the same…so you can as well kill me than having to live every day of my immortal life without you by my side…"

A tear languidly rolled down Ares' sad face, as the thought of having lost his Princess forever started taken shape more and more inside his head.

Moving a few steps closer to her, he was very much aware that she could very well strike him down, but it didn't matter. Nothing did, not even his daughter. Not without her …..When he was close enough he slowly leaned in and tenderly kissed her lips and he was about to pull back up, when he felt her arms around his neck and her soft lips crashing hard onto his.

It was simply amazing…. he put all the passion he had into that kiss. When they broke apart, he finally recognized his Warrior Princess' trademark smile and her sky blue colored eyes.

He couldn't help letting out a sigh of relief and said.

"You almost had me worried Xe, for a minute there I thought I had lost you."

She just tilted her head to the side and ghosted her lips over his again.

"So this is what a girl's gotta do to get a little romance in her life?"

She then smiled tenderly and added:

"Ares… no matter how lost I get, I know I can always depend on you and Eve to bring me back to the right path."

And then, right out of nowhere she smacked him, so hard that he fell in a puddle on the floor. Everyone gasped. The God, just gave her "What was that for?" type of look, explicitly demanding an answer.

"That was for you trying to throw your life away, because you thought you had lost me! Ares, if something ever did happen to me it is your responsibility as Eve's father to take care of her!... Not try to throw your life away because you think you've lost me!"

Ares just shook his head disapprovingly:

"I knew that was the key to bring you back …So give me some credit ok?"

She didn't manage to answer though cause the Fates decided it was time to interrupt the spectacular soap opera.

"King Ares, if you don't mind we Fates have other things we must attend too. I'm sure that you and our future Queen can keep this up in our absence too."

Ares turned towards them, trying to look kingly.

"Yes, Yes, you may return to your boring jobs...If you need anything let your King know."

Hearing that line and seeing her brother's imposing attitude, the Love Goddess just brust into laughter. It was way too funny to be able to hold it back…Xena joined in of course.

The Fates just rolled their eyes and disappeared in a black sheet of smoke.

Then, Aphrodite made her way over to Xena and Ares and handed a happy Eve to her mother.

Ares smiled contently and, casting a long gaze towards his sister, he did something that he had only done on rare and extremely rare occasions, something very out of character for him:. He pulled her in a big hug and kissed the top of her head.

"I love you sis, thanks for everything...You know your welcome to come around anytime, I don't want Evie missing her favorite Aunt afterall."

Tears started to form in the usual vibrant and happy goddess eyes.

"I love you too Big Bro, I promise I'll be the best Auntie every. I promise you I will spoil her beyond reason."

The War God looked at her and knew she was telling the truth.

"I know you will Dite, I know you will..."

Ares then looked back to Xena and a flash of lust crossed his face.

"How about we let Evie go with Auntie Dite for awhile, while we take care of our little unfinished business?"

Reading him like an open book, the Warrior Princess knew what kind of unfinished business Ares was referring to, so she leaned in and gave him a kiss before replying:

"As much as I would love to finish what we started, you and I both have some unfinished business to attend to. ...You Mister, you have business with the other Gods/Goddesses to establish yourself as the new King of Olympus…."

Looking down she continued with a heavy sigh:

"And I, well…. I have a lot of people that I have to come clean to as well as apologize for the pain and suffering I've caused. I also need to rebuild Amphipolis given the fact that it has been destroyed on my account in the first place….

Xena looked at Ares with a far away look on her face.

"And now…..seeing as my future husband is the new King of the Gods..." she trailed off, letting a cattish smile take over her lips, while a very attentive War God was looking on waiting for her every word. Seeing as she wasn't about to continue he simply asked:

"What is it that you need my Goddess?" Those words alone made Xena understand that he would unquestionably fulfill any desire she might have had:

"As your Enyo…I'd like to ask something of you…..."

It only took one brief glance for the God of War looked to know that what she was about to ask was apparently of great importance to her. He also instantly knew that he would do anything in the world just to make her happy.

"Name it; I swear if it's in my power I'll grant it."

Xena gave Ares a slight smile before she began speaking again:

"The villagers that lost their lives the day of the Siege…..can you bring them back for me? I know I have no right to ask but Ares… they didn't deserve to die for my foolishness."

Hearing her pleas and sensing the distress in her voice, Ares could tell how upset she had been about that…Well, if it was important for her than it was important for him too.

Turning around he looked to Hades, God of the Underworld and spoke in a thunderous voice:

"Uncle my future bride and your future Queen has a request, will you honor that request?"

Not wanting to piss off neither Ares nor the Warrior Princess, doing his best to avoid Athena's fate, the God gave a low bow to both his new Queen and King, before saying.

"It shall be done my King and future Queen; their lives will be restored within an hour. ...Know this though my King, I have no intentions of bringing mortals back every time you see fit. I'm only doing this as a gift to our future Queen..." Ares nodded his understanding.

"Thank You Uncle, I owe you one."

Hades then vanished, going to work to bring back the lives of the villagers that were lost in the battle of Amphilous. Ares turned back to Xena, and before he could get a word in she kissed him. She ended the kiss quickly with a teasing smile on her face.

"Thank You, and before I forget I love you too"

Ares couldn't be more happy about these last turn of events, he had everything he had ever wanted in life. He finally had a family to call his own, he was now the King of the Gods and soon he would have by his side his future Queen, his lifelong obsession. To top it all, Xena had just told him she loved him- he didn't even know what on earth could make his day even more better… except ...

With a devilish smirk on his face, the God tried to kiss his Warrior Princess again. She backed away though, giving him in return that all knowing expression of hers .

"Sorry Darling" she replied teasingly "We both know we have things that we need to take care of...Personally, I'm about to go drop the bombshell on mother and Gabrielle... By the way, would you mind staying with Eve while I'm gone? I don't want her around if things don't go the way I'm hoping to.

Ares gave Xena a long look . She was always nervous when having to face the music regarding them as a couple. He knew perfectly what she was talking about though and he didn't like the possibility.

Slowly, he reached for his daughter, and after making sure she was all snuggly in his arms he turned his attention back to Xena.

"Xe, everything will be alright...If you need me, just call, ok?."

The Warrior Princess smiled at him, and gave him a sweet kiss on the cheek. Then , she instantly disappeared in a shower of red sparkles.

The War God gazed back at a giggling Eve.

"Evie Princess, I'm telling you, we have our hands full with your mother. I swear that woman is going to give me a stroke one day."

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_Reviews are Highly appreciated :) I want to thank all those that have reviewed, followed, and favorited my story y'all are amazing it really does mean a lot to me. :D. _


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